Last-Minute Shoppers Hit Area Stores

Are you one of those people? The last-minute shopper? Part procrastinator, part budget hound?

If you are, you were in good company on Monday, as Christmas Eve shoppers hit area stores in search of deals and last-minute gifts that they agree they could have, or should have, bought already.

"Oh my goodness, I've got about 20 people to shop for, and I totally forgot stocking stuffers for my grandchildren," laughed Rose Pate-Jackson of Conestee, who hit the Dollar Tree in Mauldin late afternoon on Christmas Eve to grab assorted candies and doodads. 

She wasn't alone. The Dollar Tree in Mauldin, and numerous other stores in the Upstate, saw a last surge of shoppers making last minute purchases or, in the case Gavin Seese of Simpsonville, shopping for the first time this season.

"I bought a really nice necklace for my wife today and matching earrings, and I still have to get for my mom and my stepdad, and my brother, good Lord help me. This is pretty much how I operate every year. I just hate to shop — even for people I love. Must be a man thing. You're not going to use my name are you? Seese laughed. "I'm really pathetic, I know. And I'm stressed, too, but I always, always come through."

Some people, such as Peter Denton, shopping at an Upstate Wal-Mart, wouldn't have it any other way.

"I always shop on Christmas Eve," he said. "Gets the blood pumping. And usually I can find some great deals."

A poll conducted by The NPD Group and CivicScience revealed that 42 percent of consumers were still shopping for the holidays last week up until Christmas Eve, since many have been groomed to wait for better deals later in the season.

However, while Christmas spending is expected to increase slightly this year over last, lingering economic and job fears, poor weather in certain parts of the country, the depressing effects of the Newtown shootings, even fears of the so-called "fiscal cliff," are among the various factors keeping many shoppers from opening their wallets fully, many analysts have said.

The true economic impact won't be known until after Christmas, when numbers start rolling in from retailers nationwide.

However, in a good sign for the retail trade, Scotti Waddell, an assistant manager at the Target store in Simpsonville, said this holiday season has been "crazy." As people crowded the electronics desk at the store Christmas Eve, Waddell said the traffic had been "horrible," but in a good way, as the cash registers sang.

"Today hasn't been as busy as Black Friday," she said, "but it's been a close second."

Are you a last-minute Christmas shopper? Or did you get your shopping done weeks ago? Tell us about it in the comments.