An Australian shopper was stunned to walk into their local Woolworths store on August 28 and see Christmas items on the shelf.
Sharing a photo taken in the supermarket’s bakery section, it revealed an entire shelf display stocked with boxes upon boxes of seasonal favourite: Festive Iced Fruit Cake. The traditional Christmas dessert was available to purchase for $9.50.
Sharing the picture in a Reddit post, the Woolies shopper posted the image alongside the outraged caption: ‘I found this yesterday 28th of AUGUST in my store’.
Commenters on the post were floored to see the arrival of Christmas products so soon in the year.
‘The earliest I have seen Xmas products was September. You are the new winner!’ read one reply.
A Woolworths Group spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail that the first batch of Christmas treat items had indeed arrived in stores Australia-wide.
‘This week we will start introducing some of our Christmas range to help our eager customers start getting ahead of the festive season,’ they confirmed.
‘However, the full Christmas range won’t appear until towards the end of the year.’
A Woolies shopper noticed boxes of Festive Iced Fruit Cake in the bakery section of their local store
The stunned shopper confirmed that they saw the Christmas treat in store on August 28 – sharing this picture to Reddit
As of August 27, the early arrival festive products in Woolworths stores includes a variety of own-brand Fruit Mince Pies, Christmas Plum Pudding, Matured Christmas Pudding and Chocolate Rum Balls. (Full list below.)
The spokesperson further explained: ‘We know some of our customers are already counting down to the festive season, and with the cost of living pressures we’re all experiencing some people may begin planning their Christmas budgets a bit earlier this year.’
In the thread, several apparent Woolworths staffers confirmed that they were indeed now rolling out Christmas stock on shelves.
‘Yep trust me even workers like me find it ridiculous,’ one store worker wrote.
‘We received ours on Monday. Put off putting it out until today,’ another chimed in.
A New Zealand-based Woolies staffer added that they found it ‘funny’ that some of the first-arrival of Christmas treats ‘expires in early December, weeks before Xmas’.
‘Like, who would make Xmas products so early it expires before Xmas?’ they incredulously asked.
Other shoppers noted that Woolworths wasn’t alone in getting into the Christmas treat spirit earlier than expected.
A Coles shopper confirmed that they had also seen festive treats on sale – including their Christmas Traditional Pudding and Traditional Fruit Mince Pie packs
‘I saw mince pies weeks ago [in early August] in my local Coles,’ one person replied.
‘I’m 100 per cent a Christmas lover but this is even too far for me as someone who would celebrate Christmas year round!’
Another person shared a picture they’d taken of a Coles Traditional Pudding that they’d recently spotted on shelf.
Seasonal sweets have begun to appear on Coles’ online store listings, including its own brand Christmas Traditional Pudding and Christmas Traditional Fruit Mince Pies packs.
However, supermarket staff and shoppers alike justified the early arrival of the Christmas treats in store, explaining it was simply a case of supply and demand.
Namely, that festive treats are brought out earlier and each year in response to people being eager to buy them.
‘Here is a tip: Woolworths would not be stocking them if they did not sell,’ read one response.
‘Correct. While working in store next to a display yesterday, I saw numerous people buying pudd and pudd slices. Wild,’ a store worker agreed.
‘Yep, I had some of my customers buy some Christmas fruit cake and mince pies today,’ observed another store worker.
Another Woolies staffer added that they never understood ‘why it bothers people’ when the store starts selling seasonal favourites earlier in the year.
‘Someone asked me for brandy snaps last week and we get asked for hot cross buns at many weird times of year,’ they added.
In support of this argument, some passionate foodies explained that they found it ‘one-dimensional’ to limit ‘delicious’ seasonal treats like mince pies and fruit cake to only being eaten and enjoyed at Christmas time.
‘Just because they are marketed as “celebrating” Christmas does not define this food as being only for that purpose,’ one person argued.
‘Completely agree,’ another added. ‘It’s delicious food. Who cares when you eat it.’
Daily Mail also reached out to Coles for comment but had yet to hear back at the time of publication.
