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| Christmas comes early as Asda opens Santa's grottos in August | Christmas comes early as Asda opens Santa's grottos in August |
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| August is not yet over but Christmas has come four months early at Asda, which has opened a string of Santa's grottos at stores across the country. | August is not yet over but Christmas has come four months early at Asda, which has opened a string of Santa's grottos at stores across the country. |
| The supermarket chain said the grottos were designed to encourage people to start saving for the festive season. Staff dressed as elves have been handing out Christmas savings cards. | The supermarket chain said the grottos were designed to encourage people to start saving for the festive season. Staff dressed as elves have been handing out Christmas savings cards. |
| A spokeswoman explained: "The grottos are just a bit of fun as part of promotion for our Christmas savings cards. Our research shows that a lot of people are already starting to put money away for Christmas." | A spokeswoman explained: "The grottos are just a bit of fun as part of promotion for our Christmas savings cards. Our research shows that a lot of people are already starting to put money away for Christmas." |
| There are grottos in 17 of Asda's 540 stores around the country, but the supermarkets group said they will only stay open until the weekend. | There are grottos in 17 of Asda's 540 stores around the country, but the supermarkets group said they will only stay open until the weekend. |
| The cards allow customers to save up to £144 on each card, but they can have more than one. Asda will pay a tiered bonus if the money stays on the card until 18 November. For savings of £144, the bonus is £6; for £97 it is £3 and for £49 saved up customers will receive an extra £1. The bonus is loaded automatically onto the cards overnight on 18 November. | |
| Last year, customers saved an average of £750,000 onto the gift cards each week. From October until Christmas savings rose to more than £1m a week. These savings resulted in Asda paying out more than £1m in bonuses to its customers. So far this year it has seen the same pattern of savings, despite times being tough. | |
| Research commissioned by the supermarket chain showed that almost half of mothers are more worried about the cost of Christmas this year than in 2011. While nearly a third have already started saving for the festive period, almost one in four will be spending less this year. Rising prices and stagnating wages have eaten into household budgets. |