A bit of earlier than midday on Oct. 5, Richard Morrison was hanging a glass decoration that resembled a head of garlic on a small metallic tree. It was one in all a number of timber that had been put in inside a John Derian retailer in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, the place Mr. Morrison, a ground supervisor, and his colleagues had been organising vacation décor since Sept. 30.

It was the earliest that John Derian, 61, had begun the Christmas season at his retailer since he began his namesake retail enterprise in New York in 1995.

Mr. Morrison, 36, was one in all 5 workers unpacking and arranging ornaments on the store on Oct. 5, a balmy Thursday. As he hung the decoration, he wiped a streak of glitter from his forehead. “It’s a hazard right here,” he mentioned of the glitter. Claire Cook dinner, 28, a retailer supervisor who was additionally adorning, added, “When you work right here, you may’t be bothered by glitter.”

Mr. Derian, who owns three shops on East Second Road, not solely began the season sooner than ever this yr, however he additionally devoted more room than earlier than to vacation décor by turning a store usually used as a furnishings showroom right into a festive wonderland. “Folks don’t purchase furnishings as Christmas presents,” he mentioned, “so I assumed it is perhaps enjoyable to do it in right here.”

Inside are a dozen timber bearing a whole bunch of ornaments, together with wreaths; classic garlands made from glass; papier-mâché tree toppers; and an enormous snowman named Tony that Mr. Derian purchased from an antiques seller in Rhode Island. He paid about $1,200 for the snowman, he mentioned, including that if a buyer needed to purchase it, he would cost round $2,400.

However on Oct. 5, the day earlier than the vacation store opened to the general public, it was nonetheless in disarray. Round 1 p.m. that afternoon, a younger girl sporting a blush-colored athleisure set walked in as “Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland was taking part in.

“We are literally not open,” Mr. Morrison advised her, “however be at liberty to go searching. Simply watch out!”

A gaggle of Angel ornaments in blue and pink pastel shades hung from copper meat hooks close to the register. Cardboard packing containers strewn in regards to the store contained much more ornaments: Pickles, mermaids, artichokes, caviar tins, corgis, oysters, greens and toadstools had been simply among the designs. Most had been made from glass in Poland or Germany. Their costs fluctuate: A small glass peacock decoration prices $32; a big glass dragon prices $352.

Because the younger girl left the store, her L.L. Bean tote bag, embroidered with the phrase “slay,” barely missed a peacock.

Mr. Derian mentioned that he had about 50,000 ornaments on the market on-line and at his shops this yr. Staff attempt to preserve three of every fashion on show. As ornaments are offered — or damaged — they’re changed. Some extras are saved in a courtyard behind the vacation store for straightforward entry. Others are stored down the block, at an area used for transport and storage, and at a studio on Chrystie Road the place Mr. Derian makes decoupage, a sort of cut-and-paste artwork.

Mr. Derian estimated that a few ornaments had been damaged every day at his shops, however there isn’t a you-break it-you-buy-it rule. “When somebody breaks an decoration, we are saying an angel will get its wings,” he added, referring to a line from the movie “It’s a Great Life.”

A number of had been destroyed because the store was being arrange on Oct. 5. Their shattered stays had been tossed right into a field that the staff known as the “decoration graveyard.”

“Each infrequently you hear a crash and hope for the perfect,” mentioned Patrick Dugan, 36, a gross sales affiliate serving to to embellish the store.

Close to the again of the shop, a towering synthetic spruce tree dappled with pretend snow was being adorned with fungi ornaments of varied shapes in colours like pink, inexperienced, purple, pink and aquamarine. Many workers mentioned that the mushroom tree, variations of which have been arrange in previous years, had grow to be the preferred vacation show.

Piotr Morawski, whose household’s enterprise, Morawski Ornaments in Lodz, Poland, has been promoting objects to Mr. Derian for a few decade, known as him “the mushroom man.”

Mr. Morawski, 29, added, “He loves them.”

Mr. Derian mentioned his fondness for fungi grew after he started foraging for mushrooms in his spare time, including that he has sometimes used what he has discovered for adorning, not for cooking. “You may forage your individual mushrooms right here,” he mentioned of the store, with “no ticks.”

He began promoting ornaments 15 years in the past due to his love for Christmas, he mentioned, “and it simply stored rising and rising.”

The actress Amy Sedaris, a longtime buyer and now a buddy of Mr. Derian’s, likened the within of the vacation store to “the underside of the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ bottle.” Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor and one other longtime buyer, mentioned in an e-mail, “There’s all the time one thing shocking or whimsical or amusing.”

Sure folks have made a convention of visiting Mr. Derian’s shops this time of yr, he mentioned, and a few carry their kids. He added that collaborations with Goal, for which he just lately designed a line of Thanksgiving décor, had introduced him extra publicity. “It changed into one thing that I didn’t anticipate it to show into,” he mentioned.

A more moderen ingredient of Mr. Derian’s vacation setup is the rope stanchion he has used on East Second Road to restrict the variety of prospects who can store at a time. He began utilizing it in 2020, when pandemic-related restrictions set strict capability limits on shops. However he has continued to make use of the stanchion, he mentioned, as a result of “you probably have too many individuals inside, it isn’t enjoyable for anybody.”

Generally, particularly on weekends in December, a line varieties exterior. At first, Mr. Derian mentioned, “I might really feel unhealthy in regards to the line.” However then he began noticing the traces that may kind close by on Lafayette Road exterior Levain Bakery and the clothes retailer Kith. “I might go over there and there are traces and persons are fantastic,” he mentioned. “It’s a neighborhood of traces.”

Mr. Derian, who was raised in Watertown, Mass., and whose father managed a neighborhood grocery store, doesn’t use point-of-sale software program at his shops. Costs are written on paper tags and prospects are given handwritten receipts. “I’m a artistic individual operating a enterprise, not likely a enterprise individual,” he mentioned, including that he has been having on-line conferences with a enterprise coach since 2022.

He mentioned that round 1 / 4 of his shops’ gross sales had been vacation associated. As in years previous, he’s opening some shops, together with the vacation store, for the season on Sundays, when they’re usually closed. Mr. Derian additionally employed 5 seasonal employees this yr. He employs about 40 folks full time, and likewise has shops within the West Village and in Provincetown, Mass.

He thought that beginning the season earlier and changing the furnishings showroom into a vacation store would assist improve gross sales, he mentioned, and provide a greater purchasing expertise, partly as a result of he’s utilizing a bigger area. “It’s simpler to get out and in of,” Mr. Derian mentioned.

On Oct. 5, simply after 2 p.m., a cloud of smoke appeared exterior the store’s entrance as the staff had been getting ready its shows. The smoke was wafting from a bunch of sage leaves lit by Thomas Little, whose firm, Urbangreen, has executed landscaping and planting work at Mr. Derian’s shops for the final decade.

Mr. Little, 59, mentioned he started each venture for Mr. Derian with a saging ritual.

“While you enter John’s,” he mentioned, “it’s a sacred factor.”