DECKING THE HALLS: AREA BUSINESSES GEAR UP FOR HOLIDAY SHOPPING WITH EARLY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Christmas decorations are showing up in Cape Girardeau, including the James D. Grable home at 1615 Perryville Road.

Area business owners are already decking their halls and window displays in Christmas decorations in an attempt to get shoppers into a festive mood.

Christmas decorations began going up all around Cape Girardeau right after Halloween ended. Downtown merchants are in the process of putting up their traditional white lights and other decorations, but many won't complete their holiday hangings until just before Thanksgiving, said store owner Judith Anne Lang."Little by little, I think everyone is getting ready," she said. "A lot of the merchants have already started putting them up."The downtown merchants generally don't collaborate on their Christmas window displays beyond the uniform white lights, Lang said. Hutson's Furniture has already begun taping its windows and secretly designing its displays, which won't be revealed until near the end of the month, she said. "Every merchant is doing it on an individual basis," said Lang.

Unlike homeowners, many of whom believe Thanksgiving represents the start day for decoration hanging, business owners more often await the passing of Halloween. The festive decorations put people in the Christmas spirit of giving and makes shoppers start looking for special gifts early, they said. "We want to be early because we want people to feel festive, even if it's 80 degrees here," said Jim Grovno, general manager at Westfield Shopping Park.

Grovno said the mall's Christmas decorations are "about 98 percent complete," largely because there are so many of them, he said."When you're doing over 80,000 square feet, it takes a long time to get it up," said Grovno. "With our new settings, it takes extra time for that, too."Mall shoppers can expect a return of the Talking Teddy so popular with children. However, the display, along with many others, has been refurbished this year.

The mall also will feature a new Santa setting that features the gift-giver in his living room."We think it's really going to be beautiful this year." Grovno said. "All the merchants are ready for Christmas."Lang and Grovno said although it's important for businesses to compete for holiday shoppers, they shouldn't be in a rush to put up the decorations. "You hate to rush the season too much," Lang said. "You have a tendency to bypass Halloween and Thanksgiving if you do too much."Despite the rush to decorate, many shoppers still will wait until the last minute to purchase gifts. That's when the decorations and window displays become especially important to merchants, Grovno said."They've got their hottest gift ideas ready and waiting and on display, especially for shoppers like me who wait to the last minute to shop," he said.

Temporary merchants also are setting up shop in the malls for the Christmas buying season. There will be 21 temporary merchants selling everything from wood carvings to incense to Tupperware and ceramics."These are all entrepreneurs who are selling things someone else isn't covering," Grovno said.