It’s the most wonderful time of the year however, a British shop has banned playing Christmas songs in-store to preserve its staff’s sanity.
We’re in November now, and that means one thing: festive paraphernalia as far as the eye can see. Markets, lights, advent calendars, Mariah Carey’s timeless seasonal ballad there’s no point trying to escape. Alas, one business is trying to deny all the jolly jollity, saying it would ruin the holidays for their staff members. But do they know it’s Christmas time at all? If you visit the York Gin store, you won’t be greeted with The Pogues, Wham! or The Pretenders. According to Emma Godivala, the store’s director, customers welcome the change, as Christmas tunes are already barrelling around shopping centres. Also, Godivala added the upbeat, cheesy songs wouldn’t fit the shop’s aesthetic, which is housed in a 16th century Tudor building. Godiva said: We do love Christmas, but we want our gin shop to be a cheese-free zone. We’ve tested lots of songs to see which sound okay and which sound weird. And there’s a cut-off in the 1960s. Anything after that has been banned. Our lovely team are happy with the decision – they say lots of other shop staff are already going stir crazy with the same Christmas hits being played on a loop. That said, if Mariah appeared in the shop, we might just overturn the ban for a while and play All I Want For Christmas Is You. Not all Christmas songs are off the table this year the Nutcracker is still on the playlist. Some of the more classic tunes are still on the cards too, from the likes of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. We’re confident we’ll have the happiest staff and customers around. Our playlist is big enough to make sure no-one hears the same Christmas song more than twice in a week. Some may become jaded with the festive tunes, but they make a lot of people happy. Whether it be songs or movies, seasonal entertainment gives people joy and it’s good for you too. Talking to Do You Remember?, a psychologist explained watching Christmas movies triggers the release of dopamine, a feel-good hormone. They said: It does create that neurological shift that can produce happiness. I think anything that takes us out of our normal habituation, the normal day in, day out… signals our senses, and then our senses measure if it’s pleasing or not. Christmas decorating will spike dopamine, a feel-good hormone. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas get the Spotify playlist on!