I was in Walmart, dollar store,Michaels and Joann's and they didn't have any good bargains for christmas stuff... I don't know but I remember last year there were tons of christmas stuff in stores and after christmas the seasonal item were on sale for 60% 70% off but now the stores seems to be empty and there are no good bargains.

i mentioned this at michaels last week.. i teach cake decorating there.. the girls said . they were glad .. that there was nothing left.. that michaels was sent less stuff this year.. now they didn,t have to mess with the left overs. i didn,t see that much at the malls yesterday either.. some things were higher yesterday.. than christmas eve... ha!

We were at Wal Mart today and I wanted lights and there were none to be found! In at Michael's there was hardly anything left. I was so disappointed!

My son works at Home Depot and he also said that they only got about 1/2 of their Christmas Trim a Tree stock this year compared to other years.

I guess the stores didn't want to be weighed down with unsold inventory.

For lights I went to Bennys (not sure if you have that store where you live) they were 50% off....I've been switching over to LED lights little by little and I was able to get some good deals on them.

Exactly the same over here in the UK. We went to buy some xmas bits around the 10th December and they were already sold out without any chance of restock. Now I can understand not wanting to get left with stuff, but I think not being able to by stuff that early on is offering a poor service.

Disappointing to shoppers but you gotta admit, it's a smart business move on the part of the store.

Definetly a smart business move. Last year the shelves were full 3 weeks later. Just went into a couple of stores today, pretty much empty.

It's not at all bad customer service if a store runs out of a seasonal item before the actual holiday. It's not the store owner's responsibility to make sure she overpurchases seasonal items just in order to have merchandise left over after for the after xmas sales.

Any sane and smart business owner would rather run out of an item than have 147 left over to sell for half price. Duh. It's self explanatory, really.

I have both a bakery and a store. At the bakery, I'd rather run out of rolls two hours before closing than make a hundred extra in the morning 'just in case', and then have to throw them away.

At the store, I bought a bunch of xmas muffin cups and edible xmas decorations. The muffin cups I can now put away until next year, as I luckily have some extra space in the basement, but all those other decorations? I'm selling them now at a very reduced price and making only a few cents per item, instead of the 60% profit I made before xmas. It's nice to offer something on sale, and it's a way to pull clientele into the store, but as a business owner I wish I would have ordered less stuff.

Yes, stores must pay cash on delivery when receiving shipments instead of payment within 30 days, so they are being very careful how much they buy.
Used stores still have plenty of Christmas things, though!

How and when I pay depends on with whom I have a trade account. I have a couple with 30 days payment, some with 10 days and only a couple with payment upon purchase.

I did get some things at Walmart and Michaels. I got lots of sprinkles and cookie cutters (for fondant). They wer 50% off. Not as good as 70 or more % off but still pretty good. I spent about 100.00 on things. Can't remember every thing I got..lol..but definitely not as good as in years past for the consumer but totally understand it from business side.