Christmas comes 136 days early for overseas shoppers at Selfridges

The department store's Christmas shop launched earlier than ever before this year to make the most of tourists taking advantage of the weak pound.

Many of the decorations are designed to appeal to shoppers from overseas, with baubles covered in Union flags and "We Love London" slogans.

A store spokeswoman said: "We wouldn't launch it now unless we thought there was a market for it."

Other items on sale included artificial trees in bright pink and bright purple, although shoppers were not subjected to festive tunes on a taped loop.

It is the earliest the Oxford Street store has started selling Christmas items and it warned that the range would be widened in the coming months.

Christmas shops at Selfridges' Manchester and Birmingham branches will follow at the beginning of October. Real trees will also be available for the first time this year, in December.

A spokeswoman said the state of the pound - currently worth $1.6 and €1.17 - meant more visitors were spending their cash in the store.

Economists have reported a boost in London retail sales helped by tourists. Total sales in the capital climbed 4.7per cent versus 1.4 per cent nationwide, the BRC's London Retail Sales Monitor showed, with visitors from western Europe taking advantage of the euro's strength over sterling.

But tourists and day-trippers on a sunny Oxford Street yesterday were struggling to get into the Christmas spirit.

Sona Yergainharsian, a 24-year-old analyst visiting from Dublin, asked: "Who thinks, in August, I'll stop and get my decorations?

"A tourist isn't going in to buy a Christmas tree. Who's going home with a suitcase of Christmas decorations?

"I'm not offended, I don't mind, but I wonder why they would bother. I think it's more for publicity so people start talking about it."

Quantity surveyor Richard Gibbs, 27, down from Leeds, was equally unimpressed. "It's absolutely ridiculous. They should start putting Christmas displays in about November time," he said. "I imagine people are still getting their summer gear, given that today has been about the first time you could get your shorts on."

Agnes Scott, a 27-year-old student visiting from Poland, said shops back home followed a "traditional timetable" and August was just too early for her. "I would think, 'Maybe it's a sale from the previous Christmas,'" she warned. "That's too much, I think, it's still summer. October, November it's fine."

But Ope Tejuoso, a 36-year-old lawyer over from Nigeria, was thrilled: "I think it's fantastic. It gives me the opportunity to do my shopping - I don't have to come back in September. For me, it's not too early."

Londoners seemed relaxed about the early arrival of Christmas in the city.Karen Duffy, 24, a consultant living in Rotherhithe, said: "Christmas can be stressful so it gives you a chance to get things. The shop's inoffensive, in the basement and not in your face - and there's no Christmas music."

França Pugliesi, 38, a kitchen porter from Kensal Green, said: "I love Selfridges but I won't go to the Christmas shop. I do my Christmas shopping in December.

"But maybe it's a very good idea, and a good promotion - I think people will go to it, and it will make money."

However, even Selfridges' early start may be too late for some savvy customers, who like Rachel Smith, 33, do their shopping at the start of the year.

The midwife from Putney said: "I tend to buy my Christmas stuff in the sales. I have already got all my wrapping paper. I would probably get one or two things from the Christmas shop - but just not now."