Last night shoppers told us how the Christmas was coming along. Well tonight it is here – or almost here, which still gives those of you who aren’t quite ready, time to operate and create some Christmas magic. Indeed, last minute shoppers are the performance athletes of the Christmas season, operating on a mixture of whim, adrenaline and desperation. This morning we met a crowd of them at A&R Store on the Northern Highway.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Those still shopping on Christmas Eve are a special breed. We call them last minute shoppers but this isn’t shopping. This is desperation where they aren’t buying gifts per se, they are buying peace of mind.
Shopper #1,
“I decided to get some last minute things done. I missed a few people so I have to count them in. You know you have a big family so you miss a few and you have to come back.”
Keith Swift,
You feel pressure to get a gift, no matter what it is?
Shopper #1,
“Yap, I can’t miss none they are all important.”
Shopper #2,
“I am looking forward to get some gifts for my family and my kids.
I didn’t have the money at that time so I had to do it now.”
Shopper #3,
“I just didn’t have the time and these are for some kids that I think really need some assistance.”
Keith Swift,
What matters now, price, type or is it just that you get a gift?
Shopper #3,
“It is more or less a gift.”
Shopper #4,
“I did the other shopping before so this is just finishing up. It
is not that I meant to leave these for last, it just happened that way.”
Shopper #5,
“I just get some money and so I decided to pick up the little things I need. It is hectic but I will try. I feel a lot of pressure but I will get it done.”
Brads Gladden, Shopper #6
“I have to get some more toys for my son. I got plenty but I just need a couple more for him.”
Keith Swift,
Why did you leave it for the last minute?
Brads Gladden,
“I am not a big Christmas shopping guy but you know I got some cars and toys and little things for him, you know just to close off the shopping.”
Keith Swift,
You feel any pressure?
Brads Gladden,
“There is just too much traffic out there. It is ridiculous, you can’t get anywhere but this is the last of it right now so I am closing out and that’s about it.”
But it is not only desperation for these so-called last minute shoppers. For business owners it is also a sense of impending expiry – not the goods but the opportunity to sell them will vanish tonight. And judging by the crowds streaming into A&R at noon today, the mutual agreement of the marketplace to spend it all and sell it all before Christmas, appeared to be working fine.
And while A&R was hectic, it was worse in downtown and later on we’ll talk to shoppers in the heart of Belize City.
