Christmas stock low in shops?

[Onand]

Just under 2 weeks until Christmas and it feels like there is nothing left in the shops in terms of wrapping paper and cards already- anyone else finding this? I remember the days when M&S had lots of card multipacks and amazing decorations- now their Christmas shop is abysmal. TK Maxx have hardly any Christmas wrap left and zero cards and yet a whole massive shelving rack filled with….packets of napkins 🤯.

Have stores under ordered deliberately expecting weaker sales due to cost of living?

Where are you...lots left here ...

Agreed, not as much choice and just not as much. Probably a good thing in some ways but then I compare to bloody Halloween when the shops were full to the brim with utter crap everyone was happily living without 5 years ago. Now I'm thinking there's stuff I'm not going to be able to get for Christmas as I've left it too late.

Greater Manchester

It depends on the shop. Aldi still has wrapping stuff here, but B and M bargains didn't even have any Christmas lights left last week and I thought it was a reasonable time to put some up, so I ended up going on Amazon instead.

Morrisons has sold out of most of its decorations but had loads of cards, wrapping paper and really nice gift bags today. I was in my local largeish M&S last month and the Christmas shop was huge and full of decorations, candles, wrap, cards etc. People may have done their shopping earlier I guess.

I usually buy mine in the January sales for the following Christmas.I got loads of bumper rolls of wrapping paper for 10p each when mcolls closed down , tags too I don't buy cards.

I guess this is what happens when you drop ship from the far east. I’ve noticed there is very little left anywhere. Bit of a problem as I’ve not started doing any shopping 😂

I went to buy lights and decorations from B&Q last night and there was almost nothing left. I got the last three strands of tinsel and will have to buy lights from Amazon.

THIS every witch and ghost thing possible since mid summer. It just feels like there hasn’t been anywhere near as much Christmas stock unless of course you want napkins or god awful insipid packs of cards.

I’ve noticed the Christmas aisles have massively shrunk down over the past few days but I’ve still seen plenty of wrapping paper and cards. It makes me glad I started to shop early but I’ve been picking up some great decorations and stocking fillers that’s been reduced early.

Yes I noticed this in Tesco earlier, only a few packs of cards left!

There was Christmas stuff out in late August. It’s not surprising that most of it’s sold by now but I think supermarket have lacked on Christmas. It’s shops like Home Bargains and B&M that had tons of stuff.

I just resent having to start buying so early, we shouldn’t need to be storing wrapping paper and packs of cards months in advance. I know it’s first world problems but it’s really annoying to see how depleted everywhere is with still 2 weeks to go.

I usually buy beautiful wrapping paper and boxes of cards in TK Maxx and there is usually lots of choice - not this year! They hardly have any, and I’m referring back even to when they started bringing their Christmas items out.

I’ve noticed that since the lockdown, Christmas stock doesn’t seem to get replenished anymore. It’s really shit.

Try charity shops for tinsel. A local one to me had a big basket of new-looking strands at £1 each this week, nice unusual ones & mulitples of each. It took an effort to resist, but I really, really don't need any more.

Yeah, very few Christmas decs on Oxford Street last weekend but you can't blame retailers - shipping is risky because of situation in Middle East, cost of living crisis happening, retail margins are tiny, budget putting more pressure on business - no-one wants to be stuck with pallets of Christmas stock come boxing day.

Yes, I agree. Local indie shops and chazzas much better for Christmas stuff.

Isn’t it because some dicks people start shopping in September. And if shops are buying stock from China they will have ordered it months ago & wont be doing repeat drops. John Lewis defo had a smaller offer this yr so maybe smaller buys due to recession fears.

It's not just Christmas. Same thing happens at Easter and Halloween - try buying an Easter egg in the actual week before Christmas. There's nothing left.

It should be the law for shops not to ‘do Christmas’ until the 1st of December 😂

Three months of corporate Christmas is just too much, and too pressured. It takes away from the magic of December.

I saw plenty of really nice wrapping paper recently in WH Smith. Much nicer than the usual dreary offerings.

Totally agree, and it means people have Christmas fatigue before we even get there.
OP, if you are lucky enough to have a store near you, try Sostrene Grene. They have huge amounts and choice of Christmas wrap and decorations, all high quality but very low prices compared to other places. It’s a revelation!

To me, having stuff in the shops early takes some of the pressure off. You can spread the cost and the hassle. One year, when very preoccupied with something else, I did absolutely nothing for Christmas until the 10th December. I wouldn’t want to do that again.

As for the year when I had to race around the shops buying all my family presents on Christmas Eve - it was over 40 years ago and I still have nightmares about that!

We were living abroad at the time, and had decided only at the last minute to get a flight home.

Yes, and last year Easter eggs appeared in the supermarkets on Dec 27th!😮

Decades ago I remember being in Woolworths on Christmas Eve and they were putting out the Easter Eggs.