London - On a hot summery Thursday in
London, Santa Claus turned up 144 days early wearing a studded
leather jacket to open the new Christmas shop at department
store Selfridges.
Holding a guitar and sporting black sunglasses, Santa was
dressed to fit the store's theme of "Selfridges Rocks
Christmas".
With London basking in the midst of a heatwave, T-shirts
rather than Christmas jumpers seemed more appropriate but
Selfridges defended the move to start the Christmas countdown
almost five months before December 25.
"We have customers that really demand Christmas during this
time of year," Eleanor Gregory from Selfridges told Reuters.
Shoppers queue for the Boxing Day sales at Selfridges in London last year. Picture: Mary Turner/Reuters
"So as long as we have customers that are coming to us
demanding to shop Christmas this time of year, we will always
meet that demand and we're happy to launch our Christmas shop in
the middle of summer."
A Ziggy Stardust Christmas tree decoration and an Elvis
Presley nutcracker figure were among the rock-themed items on
sale.