HOUSING UNITS TO LAUNCH CHRISTMAS ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2009.

Housing Units will launch its 2009 Christmas department on Thursday, September 10 – 105 days before Christmas.

The department will be 3,500 square feet of floor-space dedicated to Christmas trees, decorations and accessories, and six ready-made decoration themes.

“We can understand if we are criticised in some quarters, but we’re actually heeding the opinions and views of our customers – Christmas is getting bigger and bigger as a celebration in the UK, with many families turning the decoration of the house into an event in its own right,” said Nick Fox, director of Housing Units.

“Customers like the idea of being able to spread the cost of purchase of decorations – especially at the moment - and there’s no doubt that UK families are very much following the North American trend of making Christmas a much bigger and more decorative event in any case.

“As a retailer we are seeing people actually spending more on Christmas because they can spread the cost. The Christmas department saw 2008 turnover up 15% on 2007.

“A good part of the reason is that we have created six self-contained design and colour themes – this enhances the decorative abilities of those with a good eye, but also proves to be a solution for the less well naturally co-ordinated.”