MORGANTOWN — The bustle of shoppers, a full parking lot. Gift receipts, gift boxes and retail workers.
This was no normal shopping day at the Morgantown Mall.
It was Christmas Eve and the clock was ticking down until those freshly wrapped gifts needed to be under the tree.
Last-minute shoppers filled the mall Monday afternoon, grabbing the last essentials for family and loves ones.
One of the shoppers in the mall was Sophie Jones, who said she always waits until the last minute to do her shopping. Monday though, she was returning a gift she bought her fiancé. The shoes she bought were just a little too small, so she was hurrying to exchange them for a bigger size.
“I’m pretty bad about it. I can’t ever get things organized on time and then I’m just rushing around panicking,” Jones said.
She said she generally buys presents for her immediate family and her fiancé’s immediate family. Where she shops depends on what she needs to pick up.
“JC Penney, I usually get something from there every year, I think,” she said.
She said shopping closer to Christmas can have its perks because sometimes she finds better deals. She said the Shoe Department had some sales
“It depends, I think. I mean it’s more stressful, there’s a lot more people around but it’s not terrible, I guess,” she said.
For some though, it’s not always about last-minute shopping, rather a Christmas tradition.
Franchesca Pizzurro and her husband, Sergio, were at the mall grabbing some things, but said it’s more about the holiday spirit than hurrying to buy that last-minute gift. Franchesca and her family have been going out for years on Christmas Eve.
“I think it’s just like a spirit kind of thing for us, more than anything. I mean sometimes we’ll get a couple last-minute gifts but usually it’s just about seeing everybody out, like the lights, the music, things like that,” she said.
She said they don’t go out for the deals, it’s just about hanging out with family. Franchesca was clad in a Christmas tree sweater, ornaments and all, she bought from Forever 21 a few months ago.
“We went to Portland last week for our honeymoon and I wanted to wear it to meet Hipster Santa, but I ended up not wearing it,” she said.
The newlyweds got their Christmas shopping done early this year because they went away for their honeymoon. However, they did pick up a couple things while at the mall Monday.
“We got done a couple weeks ago,” said Sergio.
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SMarino@TheDominionPost.com
