Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Christmas has come early to Selfridges as the store unveiled its Christmas Shop yesterday (August 3).
Despite temperatures rising further this week, the fourth floor of Selfridges’ flagship store in London has been given an arctic makeover from over thousands of Christmas decorations going on display in its Christmas Shop.
Opening yesterday – the first day of the first working week in August – means Selfridges is the first department store in the world to launch its Christmas Shop this year.
This year, at the top of the big trends hit list are: personalised decorations, black and white monochrome, Nordic (Scandinavian whites, reds, pale wood, wool), Magical Forrest (woodland creatures, wood-based decorations, burnt orange and tawny hues), Festive Treasures (pearls, diamonds, frosting and glass, opulent), Iconic London (Union Jack decorations – this trend is perennial).
Selfridges has also revealed that its 2015 Christmas theme is Journey to the Stars. ‘Why do ‘trad’ when you can do unusual and exciting?’ the department store group said. ‘Selfridges’ Journey to the Stars will be galaxies apart from traditional snowscapes, mangers and green and red trimmings’. In fact, this year, Selfridges will deliver its most unconventional Christmas scheme to date. Taking our creative cue from the timeless and symbolic Christmas star, we will playfully explore the confines where spirituality, mysticism and even magic meet through the imaginative study of constellations.’
The Christmas Shop which opens in two phases [currently nearly 3,000sq ft have been made public and later in the autumn, the shop will double its size to over 6,000sq ft] is dedicated to everything needed to festively decorate the home.
The space will include over 150 lights and tree options, over 120 cracker options, over 1,250 different cards and wrapping paper options, over 1,300 festive decoration options (excluding the baubles) and over 60,000 baubles.
Selfridges Christmas home & decorations buyer Geraldine James said: ‘Despite the summer weather, we’re in full festive mode here at Selfridges. We’ve been working on this year’s Christmas Shop since Christmas last year. We have so many customers visiting from all over the world and eager to snap up festive souvenirs on their summer holidays, which they can’t buy at home. So, we have to make sure we’re ready to showcase Christmas decorations they will truly treasure.’
‘We also have a large number of domestic customers who love to Christmas shop very early in the year to ensure they can take their pick of the very best selection available, whilst all collections and product are available.
‘We’ve been opening the doors to our Christmas Shop during the summer for years now and have become a real destination for those fans of Christmas and festive decorations within and outside the UK. Some of these customers return to us year after year, excited at the prospect of discovering the new collections.’ 
