Last-minute shoppers brighten retailers’ hopes
Shoppers packed the Concord Mall on Sunday, despite discouraging economic realities such as the price of gasoline nearing $3 a gallon and the national mortgage mess that has housing prices in a freefall.
On this, the last Sunday before Christmas, it was shoulder-to-shopping bag at the retail mecca on U.S. 202, as Santa’s helpers raced the clock to complete their gift-buying before today, Christmas Eve.
These last-minute shoppers had plenty of company.
A survey conducted for the National Retail Federation said average shoppers — as of last Tuesday — had finished just over half of their gift-buying while a staggering 35 million shoppers hadn’t even started.
Some shoppers undoubtedly kept their credit-cards holstered until the end of the shopping season, hoping worried retailers would blink and lower already deeply discounted prices.
But for many folks, like Jack McMichael of West Chester, Pa., a trip to the Concord Mall on a rainy Sunday was needed to fill those remaining spots on gift lists.
