Christmas comes early to borderland stores

Santa made his way to Cielo Vista Mall with mariachis and children leading his parade. You might think stores start their holiday seasons earlier each time, but mall officials say they’ve followed the same schedule for years.

“The first week of November is when we kick off our holiday season here, again it’s just kinda getting a jump start on the shopping season,” said Cindy Foght from Cielo Vista Mall.

Some are taking advantage.

“There’s a lot of sales right now, a lot of coupons in the mail,” said Mirella Quintana, a shopped using the early sales to get ahead on her gift shopping.

Although many customers are taking advantage of lowered prices, some say it’s just a little too soon for stores to start labeling things as winter sales.

“[I would call them] just regular sales, because , you know, there’s always sales here, right?” said Jesse Martinez, another shopper.

Others say they’ll wait, buying their gifts later in the year.

Early or no, with or without Christmas decorations, crowds show no signs of stopping their early purchases.