Day In, Day Out

Most are too big for stocking stuffers, but otherwise calendars fit almost any holiday shopping need. And in a media-driven marketplace where trends can flare up and die overnight, the calendar occupies the enviable status of a commodity that gets better every year.

Indeed, today’s calendar world is a niche marketer’s dream. From their modest start as holiday handouts from banks and funeral homes, calendars now rival coffee-table books in artistry and come in so many choices that many malls have seasonal shops just for calendars--Day by Day and Calendar Club are two major chains.

Since Walden Books opened its Day by Day Calendar Co. stores in 1992, the chain has grown from 50 to 500 locations nationwide, including Mission Viejo Mall.

The Calendar Club, an international chain of more than 600 stores owned by Barnes & Noble in Austin, Texas, has also jumped into the calendar craze. The 1,000-square-foot store in Costa Mesa stocks about 2,000 calendars.

“Most people own more than one calendar, and the average person owns three,” says Tom Beza, the store’s manager.

Calendar sales rake in $5 billion a year, according to Dick Mikes of the Chicago-based Calendar Marketing Assn.

“If you’re looking for a gift, you can find something that strikes a personal note,” Mikes says. “I just saw a calendar for left-handed people and bought it for my mother.”

Beza has a theory about the growing demand for calendars: They offer people a temporary escape from their workaday lives. To illustrate his point, he shows off a wall filled with the popular Wild & Scenic calendar series that feature sumptuous nature photographs of all 50 states.

“People can look at these and for a few moments they can remember being in the backwoods of Michigan,” he says. “It’s the same reason they like to stare into fishbowls. They can look at a calendar and get lost in another world.”

Calendar stores expect to sell most of their stock during the last few shopping days before Hanukkah and Christmas.

“At an average cost of $9 to $12, they’re a great add-on gift,” says Linda Caine, spokeswoman for Walden Books in Ann Arbor, Mich. “If you have people who are difficult to buy for, all you have to find out is their hobby or interest.”

There’s a calendar for everyone--even “Cat Codependents.”

Calendars mirror prevailing trends. Need more proof that cigars are hot? Count the calendars devoted to stogies. There’s a handful on the market, including one filled with lush illustrations from cigar boxes called “The Artful Cigar.”

Caffeine addicts have a calendar for their vice too: “The Java Junky.”

Calendars not only tell what day it is, they reveal people’s likes, hobbies and desires--from highbrow art (John William Waterhouse, Maxfield Parrish) to lowbrow humor (Beavis and Butt-head; the “National Lampoon Dirty Dirty Joke Calendar”).

There are staples. Gary Larson’s “Far Side” calendar leads the pack, along with the Sierra Club and Ansel Adams. “People find a calendar they like and stick with it,” says book buyer Stan Hynds of Vroman’s in Pasadena. “If the publisher doesn’t print it, they go crazy.”

But Hynds is always scouting for something new and found a winner last year with “The 1997 Illustrated Calendar of Fat,” created by photographer John Flaherty who compared the fat contents of food--one chocolate chip equals 5 pounds of grapes--for people watching their weight. “It was clever and sold well,” Hynds said.

Flaherty has created a 1998 version, along with an exercise calendar.

What are some other picks?

* Calendars serve as barometers for celebrities’ popularity--good news for Jenny McCarthy, whose “Vegas Vacation” is hot, but bad news for Dennis Rodman, who’s pictured on the cover of a wall calendar while reclining on a haystack in all his tattooed glory.

“I haven’t sold one yet,” Beza says.

Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean are timeless calendar favorites. Princess Diana had her own calendar in the past, but this year at least half a dozen competing versions pay her tribute.

“A lot were released after her death,” Caine says.

Grateful Dead has been the surprise No. 1 seller at Calendar Club. “They’re still alive and kicking. I wouldn’t have guessed it, especially in conservative Orange County,” Beza says.

* This year’s hottest celebs are no match for puppies. Dogs make up at least a third of the 15 best-selling calendars each week at Day by Day.

“Dog breed calendars, for instance, have really exploded. It can’t be just bulldog, it’s English bulldog. Five years ago there were none, this year there are 120--everything from Belgian Malinois to miniature schnauzers,” says Mike Brown, a partner in San Francisco’s Browntrout Publishing.

“Pet calendars are incredibly popular this year--everybody’s looking for a picture of their dog.”

* There are calendars for kids, of kids, and by kids (they can create their own calendars with stickers and pens). Kittens and other fluff balls are popular with the toddler set, and Pooh is a favorite preschool pinup.

* Angels are big. Anne Geddes offers portraits of babies posing as winged cherubs and other whimsical creatures.

* There are trains, planes and automobiles of every make, and car buffs who can’t decide between Camaros or Corvettes can opt for Car and Driver’s “365 Cars” desk calendar for their daily auto fix. For frustrated farmers, there are dated pages filled with glorious illustrations of . . . tractors.

* Travel calendars can take people on a trip anywhere. Others seek escape through humor. Calendar Club’s weekly top-10 list routinely includes Larson’s “Far Side Page-A-Day” and Dilbert’s “Big Things Are Coming My Way Soon.”

* The selection of art calendars gets richer every year, says Carol Hoffman of Dutton’s on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles.

“Customers come from out of town for yearly calendar shopping, and they buy handfuls,” she says.

Nostalgia is selling in elegant European posters, along with collectible American artists such as Louis Comfort Tiffany. “African American artists are popular too--one of the best sellers is Romare Bearden, who paints jazz and blues,” Hoffman says.

* Those looking for a quick spiritual pick-me-up can consult “14,000 Things to Be Happy About” and “The Little Zen Calendar.” New Age guru Deepak Chopra offers “365 Days of Wisdom & Healing,” and there’s a variety of desk calendars for people wanting religion on the run.

* Cheesecake is a perennial favorite, but girlie calendars have changed since the days when mechanics displayed the pinup of the month in garages, Beza says.

“Now it’s not just pinup girls but pinup guys.”

* Some ’98 calendars simply defy classification. At least two pay homage to scenic outhouses, and it’s the special person on one’s holiday gift list who will appreciate “365 Days of Duct Tape.”

Michel Choban, buyer for A Different Light, a gay and lesbian bookstore in West Hollywood, thinks calendars serve as important icons: “Something in your house you look at every single day that makes you feel good, cheers you up and empowers you.”