Halloween is barely over but already there are plenty of signs in WNY that people and businesses are ready for the Christmas season to begin.
Christmas commercials are running on television, some radio stations have started playing non-stop Christmas songs, and many stores are fully decorated for the popular holiday. Even people have set up their Christmas trees.
It is still nearly two months until Christmas, so the big question: "Is it too soon for Christmas?"
7 Eyewitness News Reporter Ed Reilly went out to hear what people think.
Radio station STAR 102.5 will start playing non-stop Christmas music this month. Tim Wenger, operations manager for Entercom Buffalo, said when the station did the same thing in previous years, it resulted in huge increases of listeners both over-the-air and streaming online. Wenger said national research shows the same result at other radio stations across the country.
One of the places that Ed Reilly stopped at for his report was Dave's Christmas Wonderland in Cheektowaga. The store is ready for holiday sales which started spiking up immediately after Halloween.
Bonnie Killeleagh, from Dave's Christmas Wonderland, explained that it takes a lot of time to decorate the store for Christmas and that's why it has to be ready long before. Since there are many shoppers who get into Christmas buying mode early, Killeleagh said it was important to have merchandise ready to sell immediately after Halloween.
While some people still think the Christmas season gets underway too soon, stores like Dave's count on the extra time to help sell their inventory of products.
"You can't flip the store over to Christmas decorations in a week or sell everything off in a week," added Bonnie Killeleagh.
You can see more in Ed's reports.
