They added that highly prized houses with seasonal prices of $25,000 to $30,000 have been snapped up by renters who shopped early, moved swiftly and spent freely.

Nan Northcut, who was visiting Manhattan from Nashville with her family, said, "I shop early because I would rather not do it when things are crowded."

As for other knee jerk signings; We should have shopped early.

"My advice has been to shop early," Mr. Mannetta said, "because pumpkins are not available to our customers in nearly their ordinary abundance."

"Our customer finds it easier to shop early," she said.

The $6.99 price is an inducement to start shopping early for Passover (April 1, 1988).

We could shop early, be at the courthouse the minute it opens, and be back in time for you to get ready for lunch.

So if you're a large size or a small size, you should shop early.

"The Calvin customer traditionally likes to shop early," said Kalman Ruttenstein, the senior vice president for fashion direction at Bloomingdale's.

So now many people believe it is not so smart to shop early.