Tomorrow is the first day of fall, but apparently to department stores it may as well be winter because they’ve already started prepping for the holiday season.

Believe it or not, Macy’s in New York’s Herald Square has already opened their Holiday Lane, which features toy soldier nutcrackers, Santas, ornaments and “The Elf on the Shelf.” And they’re not the only ones getting into the spirit early. Wal-Mart plans to start stringing up lights and ornaments in the next two weeks, with Sears putting Christmas décor up for sale by October 2^nd.

While this may seem early to some, stores are only doing it because it’s what folks want. “Retailers will always react to trends based on the consumer needs and wants,’’ National Retail Federation spokeswoman Ana Serafin Smith says, noting that “if the consumers are asking for holiday products earlier in the year,” stores are going to start offering them.

And it’s completely understandable that stores would want to get in on the holiday spirit early, since it accounts for a good portion of their yearly sales, with some retailers seeing as much as 40% of their business during the holiday season.

• Of course while we may think September is a bit ridiculous to start thinking about holiday shopping, we are actually a bit behind other countries. London’s Selfridges department store opened their holiday shop on August 1^st.

Source: USA Today