It happens every year. The Christmas decor and merchandise start creeping into the department stores and the holiday TV spots start airing. Many say it creeps earlier and earlier every year. There is one store though that refuses to give way to the holiday push until it’s official. Haute department store Nordstrom puts it’s Jimmy Choo-clad foot down and declares:
Happiness is celebrating one holiday at a time. That’s why you won’t find any holiday trim in our stores until after Thanksgiving. So relax. Reminisce. Enjoy the day as we will – with family and friends. Then when Friday, November 25 rolls around, feel free to stop by for a bit of good cheer. That’s when we’ll be decked out in our holiday finery – and eager to welcome the season with you.
From our Family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. We will be closed on Thanksgiving day.
Though in the past Nordstrom has had the same policy, this year images of this sign have gone viral, getting cheers of “Thank you!” “About time!” and “Finally!” from Facebook and Twitter users alike.
Me? I love the fact that Nordstrom lets their employees enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday by closing the stores for the day and not reopening until Friday morning. Since when did Black Friday start at Midnight? But, as someone who’s been sneaking holiday music in since the first cool day of September, I can’t live by a hard and fast “Day after Thanksgiving” rule. And what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than seeing Macy’s first Black Friday Sale Commercial?
Maybe that’s taking it a little far, but is commercialism really that terrible for the holiday season? It’s almost become part of the tradition. For example, my mother-in-law and all of her girlfriends have an annual shop-a-thon every Black Friday and it’s one of her favorite parts of the holiday.
Besides, even the most spiritual and devout of American cultures, The Shakers, could embrace commerce. According to Hancock Shaker Village, a living history museum dedicated to bringing the Shaker story to life, the Shakers made important contributions to American society not only in social and religious ways but also in business and commerce.
…the Hancock Shakers sold their goods in Pittsfield [MA] both as peddlers and through local stores from the 1790s through the 1950s. Shaker products, ranging from seeds, herbal medicines, and candies to textiles, woodware, and pincushions, were renowned for their fine quality and were considered good products at fair prices. In 1808, Pittsfield Congregational Minister Thomas Allen described the Shakers as “very harmless, innocent people, good citizens, and honest, industrious, peaceable members of society. They are good farmers and artists, and offer nothing for sale that is deceptive.”
To me, the level of commercialism that litters the holidays is what we make of it. Whether you embrace it or unwillingly accept it as you shop for gifts, if we all try to be nice to one another, including those who work in retail, the commercialism will give way to the true spirit of the holiday season.