Slightly 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 among a number of bushes that had been put in inside a John Derian retailer in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, the place Mr. Morrison, a flooring 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 among 5 staff 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 Prepare dinner, 28, a retailer supervisor who was additionally adorning, added, “When you work right here, you possibly can’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 believed it could be enjoyable to do it in right here.”

Inside are a dozen bushes bearing tons of of ornaments, together with wreaths; classic garlands manufactured from glass; papier-mâché tree toppers; and an enormous snowman named Tony that Mr. Derian purchased from an antiques vendor 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 enjoying.

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

A bunch of Angel ornaments in blue and pink pastel shades hung from copper meat hooks close to the register. Cardboard bins strewn concerning the store contained much more ornaments: Pickles, mermaids, artichokes, caviar tins, corgis, oysters, greens and toadstools have been simply a number of the designs. Most have been manufactured 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 hold three of every model on show. As ornaments are offered — or damaged — they’re changed. Some extras are saved in a courtyard behind the vacation store for simple 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 have been damaged every day at his shops, however there isn’t any 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 have been destroyed because the store was being arrange on Oct. 5. Their shattered stays have been tossed right into a field that the staff known as the “decoration graveyard.”

“Each infrequently you hear a crash and hope for the very best,” 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 assorted shapes in colours like pink, inexperienced, purple, pink and aquamarine. Many staff mentioned that the mushroom tree, variations of which have been arrange in previous years, had change into the most well-liked vacation show.

Piotr Morawski, whose household’s enterprise, Morawski Ornaments in Lodz, Poland, has been promoting gadgets to Mr. Derian for a couple of 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’ll be able to 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 electronic mail, “There’s at all times one thing shocking or whimsical or amusing.”

Sure folks have made a practice of visiting Mr. Derian’s shops this time of yr, he mentioned, and a few convey their kids. He added that collaborations with Goal, for which he not too long ago designed a line of Thanksgiving décor, had introduced him extra publicity. “It become one thing that I didn’t count on it to show into,” he mentioned.

A more moderen aspect of Mr. Derian’s vacation setup is the rope stanchion he has used on East Second Road to restrict the variety of clients 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 “in case you have too many individuals inside, it isn’t enjoyable for anybody.”

Typically, particularly on weekends in December, a line types outdoors. At first, Mr. Derian mentioned, “I’d really feel unhealthy concerning the line.” However then he began noticing the traces that may kind close by on Lafayette Road outdoors Levain Bakery and the clothes retailer Kith. “I’d go over there and there are traces and persons are nice,” he mentioned. “It’s a neighborhood of traces.”

Mr. Derian, who was raised in Watertown, Mass., and whose father managed an area grocery store, doesn’t use point-of-sale software program at his shops. Costs are written on paper tags and clients are given handwritten receipts. “I’m a inventive particular person operating a enterprise, probably not a enterprise particular person,” 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 have 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 procuring expertise, partially 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 outdoors the store’s entrance as the staff have 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 mission for Mr. Derian with a saging ritual.

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