On my stroll into work this morning, it was the first day I noticed that downtown Seattle’s trees are now glowing with Christmas lights. Unless you are Ebenezer Scrooge or the Grinch, it is impossible not to feel your mood elevate as you walk under twinkling lights that for me mark the beginning of the holiday season. At this time of year when the sun doesn’t rise until 7:30am and it disappears over Puget Sound by 4:30pm, the decorative lights of downtown create a holiday atmosphere that I and many of my fellow Frausies look forward to.
While the lights do create a feel-good environment, they also have a strategic purpose. As holiday consumers are making their shopping lists and checking them twice, they head to downtown retailers to cross gifts off their list. The lights cater to shopping festivities and builds upon the giddiness this time of year creates – encouraging many shoppers to do their holiday gift buying downtown and reach deeper into their wallets once they are here. This holds especially true for this holiday season when the economy threatens to curtail purchases and more consumers are doing their gift buying online.
Following General Electric’s release of Christmas light kits in 1903, lights have become a staple of the holiday season in the ranks of Frosty the Snowman and stockings hung by the chimney with care. They light our dark November and December days in the Pacific Northwest and beckon Seattleites downtown for some holiday cheer – something I now get soak up on my way to and from Frause.
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