Bring on the Christmas displays -- in July
It's hot as heck out there, but we're not hankering for the beach. We want a shoe-ti-licious visit from Santa.
Apparently, we're not the only ones longing for Christmas in July. Major retailers like Sears aren't waiting for bathing suit season to end to break out the red stockings and fake snowflakes.
Christmas displays are going up, like now, at least for online shoppers. (The Times' ace business writer, Mark Albright, wrote this weekend about the stores rolling out palm trees and Santa hats.)
A jolly Santa in a bathing suit theme sale works for us. But let's hold off on the ice skating imagery until the thought of Jack Frost nipping doesn't seem just, well, depressing, okay?
~ Deal Diva Letitia
Stephanie Hayes came out of the womb wearing high heels. While other kids were reciting multiplication tables, she was learning to calculate an extra third off the half-price discount during buy-one-get-one week. She loves animal prints, black mascara and anything that sparkles. She objects to visible panty lines, Crocs and anything that costs more than a car payment. And she doesn't drive a nice car. She can be reached at (727) 893-8857 or 
Since she was a little girl Nicole Hutcheson dreamed of dressing like a Vogue cover girl. But her reality was more JCPenney catalog. The fact only honed her better ability to find luxury for less. Always on the hunt for markdowns on designer labels, this Deal Diva’s weaknesses are good jeans and killer heels. She can be reached at (727) 893-8828 or 
Colleen Jenkins learned two invaluable shopping tenets from her mom: 1. Buy quality. 2. Get it on sale. Then she added one of her own: Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize! This Deal Diva’s idea of a blissful Saturday includes a trip to the Ellenton outlet mall. She loves mixing classic with trendy and cheap Target accessories with her markdown Banana Republic duds. She can be reached at (813) 226-3337 or 
A disciple of the little black dress classics school, Letitia Stein stretches her budget by looking for styles with staying power. She lives for 80 percent off shoes at DSW, floral sundresses and bohemian chic tops. She confesses to being a bit of a snob when it comes to handbags and jewelry. She can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or 
BAH. HUMBUG!!! :(
Posted by: CrazyIvan | July 14, 2009 at 10:21 PM