Millions expected to do last-minute Xmas shopping nationwide
Christmas is just two days away which means not a lot of time for holiday procrastinators still searching for the perfect gift. Expect to see many people carrying shopping bags in the days right before the holiday as people rush to get last minute gifts.
“I’ve shopped for my girlfriend already but I’m still waiting to do the shopping for my family so I’m planning to do that today,” Jacob Howell of Santa Monica, said.
He’s is one of many Americans shopping during the last weekend before Christmas. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 134 million Americans shopped on the Saturday before Christmas. 55 percent of shoppers planned to shop at department stores or online. Howell said he’s going to do it on Amazon.
“Mostly everything I can find online, it’s just easier, because they can ship to your door,” he said.
Some shoppers got their last gifts Saturday at the Westfield Palm Desert mall navigating crowds.
“I was expecting a lot more traffic, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. The mall, we went to the mall and it was a little hectic,” Robert Jimenez of Palm Springs, said.
Others decided to finished the shopping extra early.
“Christmas shopping is done by the end of November. That allows us to relax into the holiday and not feel that holiday stress, a really enjoy the spirit of Christmas,” Joe Lugo of Palm Springs, said.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1076958243807612928″,”author_name”:”Jeremy Chen”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Christmas is just two days away which means not a lot of time for holiday procrastinators still searching for the perfect gift. I spoke with some local shoppers on how they’re coping with the holiday shopping rush. Full story tonight at 6 on &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/KESQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@KESQ&#lt;/a&#gt;. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/4IbODoFTi8″&#gt;pic.twitter.com/4IbODoFTi8&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Jeremy Chen (@JeremyChenKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1076958243807612928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;December 23, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
If you are feeling the holiday stress, a simple gift may just be the answer in case you’re indecisive, like gift cards.
“They can do all their own shopping. Get all the after Christmas sales, after Christmas is over,” Jimenez said.
For Howell, he’s hoping it’s not too late for presents to be shipped on time and is crossing his fingers.
“Wish for the best and get ahead of the game,” he said.
According to the NRF, seven percent of shoppers surveyed say they’ll get their last gifts on Christmas Eve, while four percent say their last gift will be purchased after Christmas.
Download the KESQ & CBS Local 2 app on iTunes or Google Play for up-to-the-minute breaking news alerts & more
More: I-Team investigations
Find us on Facebook: KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2
Follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates: @KESQ & @Local2
We’re on Instagram! @KESQ_News_Channel_3 & @CBSLocal2
Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
