If you haven’t started buying Christmas gifts yet, don’t worry – there are still 37 shopping days to go before Dec. 25.

Of course, it may not feel like that. Stores have had holiday-themed items lining their shelves for weeks – in some cases, for months.

And a lecturer in the University of Waterloo’s economics department says we may only have ourselves to blame.

“Retailers respond to consumer demands,” Geoff Malleck said in an interview.

“There’s something to be said about the consumer that looks at Christmas displays with disdain, and then goes out and shops.”

Malleck says that over the years, stores have steadily added more and more holiday sales to their offerings, and started moving them up earlier and earlier on the calendar.

Largely, he says, that’s because their competitors are doing the same thing and seeing some levels of success.

“If you’re department store A, and department store B is discounting and calling it Black Friday, (then) either you’re going to have to accept losing sales or you’re going to respond in kind,” he said.

In recent years, Black Friday has morphed from a little-known concept to one of the biggest shopping days of the year in the United States.

While the day isn’t quite so prominent in Canada, retailers on this side of the border have taken to offering sales as well.

What’s less clear is whether Black Friday is leading consumers to spend more, or just shift when they purchase their Christmas gifts. Malleck says he’s seen conflicting data, suggesting that nobody is really sure which scenario is playing out.

“Retailers hope that if we go and get our shopping done early, we’ll buy some more later on,” he said.

One area of concern for Malleck is that data suggests Canadians are continuing to spend beyond their means, spurred on by low interest rates.

He wonders what will happen to consumer spending habits when money becomes harder to find – and what that will mean for the retail sector.

“We spend more and more, and leverage more and more,” he said.

“At some point, there’s got to be an end.”

With reporting by Alexandra Pinto