It was the middle of October when Emily Gaszynski Adams walked into a Dollarama and came across Christmas merchandise on the shelves.
As the program coordinator of Humber Polytechnic's Bachelor of Commerce Marketing program, Adams has spent years studying consumer behaviour.
"I couldn't believe my eyes. Christmas," Adams said.
She said introducing seasonal merchandise early is a business decision for retailer. Even if shoppers are not ready to buy immediately, the displays can keep the products in their minds and encourage purchases later.
Before joining Humber, Adams spent about a decade working at Pepsi, gaining experience in sales and analytics.
"Even if people aren't buying Christmas right now, it's on a very subconscious level, playing on people's awareness, and the pressure starts to build: I need to buy for Christmas," she said.
Adams said this reflects the mere exposure effect, a psychological concept in which repeated exposure to something can make it more familiar and appealing.
"The more we see it, the more we think we need it," she said.
But the appeal of seasonal merchandise goes beyond marketing. Adams said people also shop because they enjoy the anticipation of a holiday and the excitement of preparing for it.
"We don't just buy because we need something; we buy because it's fun, it fulfills some kind of a need in us, and that might just be novelty," she said.
That anticipation can stretch the shopping season well beyond the weeks immediately before a holiday. For retailers, earlier displays give customers more time to browse, plan and purchase products. On Nov. 1, as soon as all the Halloween candy had been given out and the last pumpkin turned off, retail shelves were fully stocked for Christmas and the December holidays.
Halloween itself went into high retail display in the summer. Spirit Halloween, a seasonal costume and decoration chain in Canada and the United States, began opening its Canadian stores on Aug. 1.
"With many embracing Halloween year-round, we're here for both seasonal enthusiasts and those who stay spooky all year long," Shannon Reyes, a temporary marketing and public relations associate for Spirit Halloween, said in an email.
Reyes said earlier openings give customers more time to shop and visit stores at different stages of their planning.
The retailer's appeal also comes from the shopping experience itself. Adams said large seasonal stores attract customers with their extensive selections, giving shoppers a range of costumes and decorations to explore in one place.
"People love Spirit Halloween. I guess it's because their assortment is so big," she said.
Some consumers, meanwhile, are extending Halloween beyond the traditional fall season. Summerween, a summer version of Halloween popularized in part by the animated Disney series Gravity Falls, gives fans another opportunity to decorate, shop and celebrate before October arrives.
Liyah Caitlin, 22, a digital creator based in Florida who shares Halloween, fall and travel content, said seeing Halloween collections in stores during the summer first encouraged her to celebrate early. Social media later inspired her to embrace Summerween more fully.
Caitlin celebrates with Halloween decorations, seasonal shopping and horror movie nights featuring themed snacks and drinks. She also built spooky character brick sets, pairing each set with its corresponding horror movie.
"Sitting down to work on a set while watching the corresponding horror movie became such a fun and cozy Summerween tradition," Caitlin said in direct messages on Instagram.
Starting early gives her more time to enjoy the activities she associates with Halloween. "One month has never felt like enough time to enjoy everything I love about Halloween," she said.
Judy Muhammad, owner of Global Party Supplies in Richmond Hill, has run her store for about 21 years and carries Halloween costumes throughout the year. "For me, I carry Halloween costumes all year round. I don't wait for Halloween," Muhammad said.
She focuses on basic costumes because a small store cannot stock every possible option. Although demand can increase closer to Halloween, some customers shop early because they cannot find the costumes they want elsewhere.
Independent stores such as Muhammad's also face competition from larger retailers with broader selections and greater purchasing power. Adams said this puts pressure on smaller businesses, even when they offer products customers may not find elsewhere.
"We're losing the small retailers, which is a real shame, because they have really cool stuff," she said.
The growing availability of seasonal products also raises questions about overconsumption. Adams said inexpensive decorations can encourage people to buy more than they need, even when they already have items they could reuse.
"The amount of waste that we create is really alarming," she said.
For Adams, the issue reflects a contradiction in consumer behaviour. Shoppers may feel frustrated when holiday merchandise appears months ahead of time, yet the products continue to sell.
Adams described the familiar reaction people have when they encounter seasonal displays: "All of us, when we speak to each other, are like, 'Oh, my gosh, they're already putting Christmas up. They're already putting Halloween out."
"But what's also true is there's no question. Businesses are making money off of that," she said.
