Rocks Off, like the rest of you, hasn't finished all of our holiday shopping. Every Christmas, we tell ourselves that we'll begin earlier next year, but it never quite pans out the way we want it to. Ain't that feeling all too familiar?
While we braved the crowds at the Galleria yesterday, we realized that not too many stores were playing Christmas music. No "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls" or even A Beach Boys Christmas. We were amazed.
Don't get us wrong; it's not that we wanted to hear them - some people would even pay not to hear "The Little Drummer Boy" ever again - but Rocks Off was surprised to hear so few stores playing holiday music.
The GAP wasn't playing Christmas tunes, neither was Steve Madden, the Oakley store or Urban Outfitters - though we half expected to hear a reinterpretation of "Frosty the Snowman" by the Black Keys when we walked in. Which, now that we think about it, would be awesome.
One Steve Madden salesperson, who preferred we not use her name, told us the store only plays what corporate sends them.
"I assume it's because not everyone's religious," she said. "So, if we did play [Christmas music], we'd probably get a lot of complaints."
This was the same story at Urban Outfitters.
"We play a lot of Kanye," employee Brianna said with a laugh. "That's our Christmas."
Urban, too, only plays music sent to the store by corporate, and the mix didn't include any festive songs.
But some stores were playing new and old Christmas jingles, and many of the employees didn't seem to mind.
"It's sort of like in a horror movie," Fossil employee Joseph said. "If you turn off the music, it's not as scary anymore. It's a subconscious thing. I think most of the time, customers don't actually listen to it, and they don't actually mind it, but without them knowing it, it puts them in the mood to shop."
But when we asked the ladies at Baker's Shoes if they enjoyed the music, all three of them became wide-eyed and voiced a resounding 'No.'