Christmas in USA

............ or the better question to be asked: What happpened to Sanrio's Christmas focus in the States?

Looks like it's very true that Christmas is officially over for Sanrio USA. I hate to say it, but compared to Sanrio Japan-- they did a better job at making an attempt to bring Christmas to their fans. They didn't skip it for this year like Sanrio USA seemed to do.

By skipping it, I mean by actual Christmas PRODUCTS in stores. No matter how much you dress up a store in holiday cheer decor, you can't hide the fact that there are no Christmas themed products like in the past few holiday seasons. What happened is my question for the people in charge of USA headquarters.

Did they focus on HK Con and Sanrio--- oops, I mean the SuperCute Friendship Festival--- and completely forgot to set a budget or a team to focus on the Holidays for the States? Or did they think the Sanrio lovers are all tapped out of money since the Convention?

It must be nice for Japanese shoppers to walk in their local Sanrio store and be able to buy a Christmas plush of Hello Kitty or My Melody. At least Sanrio Japan did a half attempt to celebrate Christmas. Even if it was a really small selection of Christmas merchandise, the effort can be seen that they thought about the special season and it's fans. 

It doesn't compare with just giving out Christmas Hello Kitty pink bags to customers here in the USA. Once you walk by the Christmas decor, you can't hide the fact that there was nothing seriously worth to purchase if you're searching for that special gift. 

I was lucky that my local Sanrio store had porcelain figurines or else, I would have walked away empty-handed and in disappointment. Before Christmas came, I did stop by several Sanrio stores and only two boutique stores were selling some rare Christmas gift wrapping paper. 

Another thing that is quite disappointing is the fact that you would think to find a bigger selection of very pretty Sanrio themed Christmas gift wrapping and holiday decor in a Sanrio store. There was none of that in any of the boutique stores (minus two stores). You would think both Sanrio JP and USA would be up to speed on modern times like providing Sanrio themed Christmas ribbons and fancy holiday decor, but I guess it's all about the safety net. Maybe those products are just too risky, right?

By the way, it's called Sanrio-- did you notice Sanrio USA was giving out Christmas shopping bags with only Hello Kitty on it. What do you think? You must know what I am thinking now.