Dressed in a red blouse and excited, Marcela de Quimí arrived this Tuesday morning, July 18, at the headquarters of Almacén Buen Hogar, in Chimborazo and Clemente Ballén, in the center of Guayaquil. She was looking for Christmas items, yes, Christmas items in the middle of July. And that is that the store announced the start of Christmas pre-sale a day earlier with stock season 2022 with discounts of 50%.

With these pre-sales, in Guayaquil the red and green colors of Christmas appear and overshadow the light blue and white of the Julian festivities.

“I’ve been coming since I can remember. Before, the promotions were in October and November, I’m crazy about Christmas,” said a customer who came from the south of the city and bought Christmas dishes and other items at half price.

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María José Peláez, national store manager for Buen Hogar, explained that, like last year, this season, which normally starts in August, has been moved to July for various reasons.

Last year, the chain launched a pre-sale due to the problems that arose in international logistics as a result of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia; Instead, this year the reason is the early elections that will be held on August 20.

“This year we moved forward a little earlier because the elections are presented in August and then it will delay us, for example, there will be a weekend that we will not open because of the elections and more than anything so that people can buy all the goods left over from last year at a very good price,” said Peláez. She revealed that the chain will also push back the introduction of new Christmas merchandise to the end of next September, whereas it previously started in mid-October.

The executive assured that after a day of the announcement, they were well received by their customers, who came to their premises in large numbers, so they expect an increase in sales by more than 50% compared to the pre-sale in 2022.

He said pre-orders are available at the six stores Buen Hogar has nationwide. Including the headquarters, in Guayaquil, there is a location of Urdes, La Alborada, and in Plaza Proyecto, in Samborondón. In Quito, there are branches on Avenida de los Shyris and El Bosque shopping center.

However, the promotion of Christmas sales is not exclusive to Buen Hogar, others also tend to start offering these Christmas-themed items months before the date. For example, Almacén Mirna, located in Lorenzo de Garaycoa between 10 de Agosto and Clemente Ballén, has its new stock It stores Christmas goods in its warehouses and although they are not yet displayed in the windows, they are available for customer orders.

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“If the client has a specific request, it can be sold, we have everything in stock,” said a salesman from the store who assured that the exhibition of Christmas items will start next year in August.

Meanwhile, Almacenes Estuardo Sánchez, while not running a pre-Christmas sale, plans to open its own the market Christmas on September 15, said Carola León, the company’s procurement manager, who said that imports are already 100% complete.

“Estuardo Sánchez is characterized by the low prices that we will have on all our Christmas products, plus the discounts that we always offer to our customers, from 10% to 30% on selected products,” revealed León, who predicts sales growth of between 15% and 20% this year.

The chain imports products such as resin trees, relatives, spheres, picksflowers, cloth dolls -in various trends-, as well as products for serving the table and drinks such as cups, glasses and cutlery, which are imported from Taiwan, Indonesia, Poland, although León confirmed that he also bet on the Ecuadorian product.

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Another company that prepares its Christmas display in advance is Importadora China Town, located in Aguirre between Boyacá and García Avilés. Mariela Quinde, warehouse supervisor, assures that sales will start next August or September.

The importer’s plans to start an exhibition of Christmas items as soon as possible were disrupted by a fire in the warehouses, located in the streets of García Goyena and José Urbina Viteri (5 de Junio), south of Guayaquil, at the end of last June.

However, on the top floor of the store they have a ready sample of items, as the company imports Christmas items and are also tree and foliage manufacturers.