Shopping centres across the Maritimes were bustling on Tuesday as shoppers picked up last-minute items in the waning hours before Christmas.
Despite the advances in technology and online shopping, traditional malls are still a busy place at this time of year, and people usually have their own reasons for venturing out on Christmas Eve.
“Well I’m a lazy guy, I guess,” said one shopper, Paul Sugden. “Last day of shopping for me is the bargains and not too much running around. Get it done and …you go home.”
Some, like shopper Jeremy Scott, say it’s the only time they have to get their shopping done because of work commitments.
“(I) think I found everything I need today,” said Scott. “Just some gifts for the wife and the kid, pretty much.”
If there is a need for last-minute shopping then there is definitely a need for last-minute gift-wrapping. Mark Brewer of the Kiwanis Club of Saint John says Christmas Eve is always the busiest day of the year.
The Kiwanis Club provides a wrapping service as well as other initiatives whose proceeds go back into the community.
“We also sell the cash calendars and have raised over a million dollars in the 18 years that we’ve sold the cash calendars giving it back to the community to help kids,” said Brewer. He says the Kiwanis Club wraps about 2,000 gifts per year.
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