VIDEO: Retailers Prepare For The Next Big Holiday

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) – Halloween is now history, so it’s on to the next holiday. The calendar says Thanksgiving, but for many retailers, the Christmas shopping season has begun.

As one holiday passes, businesses start setting sights on the next big money-making celebration.

Instead of people seeing Fall leaves and Turkeys, you’re more likely to see toy Santa’s and Christmas tinsel. Between picking out Halloween costumes and checking off the Christmas list, Thanksgiving sometimes gets lost in the mix.

“You begin seeing Christmas things going up even before Halloween now,” said Eupora resident Faye Atkins.

Employees at Dabbs Pharmacy in Eupora aren’t wasting anytime getting the store into the holiday spirit.

“I started putting Christmas out last Monday. Just everybody was asking are you getting any Christmas in,” said Dabbs Family Pharmacy employee Malloy Brooks.

Though, most stores go ahead and make the leap straight to Christmas after Halloween, Atkins says she wishes retailers would give Thanksgiving as much attention as other holidays.

“I’m a Thanksgiving person. I like Thanksgiving. I just feel like we should celebrate Thanksgiving more because it’s about giving thanks too. I think that we have, generation to generation that have not talked about Thanksgiving and celebrated Thanksgiving, for the reason that it’s celebrated. To give thanks,” said Atkins.

Dabbs has several Thanksgiving decorations on display. Pharmacy employee Malloy Brooks says they want to give their customers a head start on the Christmas list.

“We like to get it out there so that people can see it, they can budget what they need to get. Decide who they can get something for. We have a wide variety of products. They can get anything for anybody in the family,” said Brooks.

Brooks says they start rolling the Christmas red carpet out because it’s a holiday that requires a good bit of planning.

“Normally Thanksgiving is about being together with your family, not about the gift giving. Though Christmas isn’t about the gift giving either. You decorate for Thanksgiving but Christmas, you’ve got your tree, that everybody puts up, you’ve got you’re presents that you open on Christmas morning, and Thanksgiving you just eat a lot of food,” said Brooks.

The store will have extended hours as the holiday season gets closer.