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I took the day off from work yesterday, at the request of my beloved, to help her with the last minute gift shopping. Not exactly my idea of a wildly fun day, but we were pushing hard up against the time limit and this was about the only way it was going to get done. We were gone from the house for most of our daughters' school day (about 9am to almost 3pm), looking for the last few gifts for tomorrow. For the most part we were successful...we even managed to find a GPS unit for my wife (it is SO much easier to buy gifts for her when she's right next to you for consultation!).
The one thing that struck me, though, was the almost complete lack of crowds. Here we were, two days from Christmas, and, for the most part, the stores were deserted. The first mall we went to felt like a ghost town. Except for the half-dozen new mothers jogging around the concourse with their babies in their strollers, the place was deserted. About the only other people at Sears were the employees, looking bored nearly to death. One whole section of that mall's parking lot had been rented to a car dealership to store their surplus inventory (I think it speaks volumes about the economy that a mall has space in its parking lot to rent to a car dealership during Christmas shopping season...as does the dealership's need for such storage space).
The second mall we went to was almost as bad. I'm so used to having to fight through masses of people rushing to finish their last minute gift shopping that it was a bit surreal to be in a large mall with only two shopping days left before Christmas and find ourselves almost alone. However, the lack of crowds made it much easier and less stressful finishing our own shopping.
The one thing that struck me, though, was the almost complete lack of crowds. Here we were, two days from Christmas, and, for the most part, the stores were deserted. The first mall we went to felt like a ghost town. Except for the half-dozen new mothers jogging around the concourse with their babies in their strollers, the place was deserted. About the only other people at Sears were the employees, looking bored nearly to death. One whole section of that mall's parking lot had been rented to a car dealership to store their surplus inventory (I think it speaks volumes about the economy that a mall has space in its parking lot to rent to a car dealership during Christmas shopping season...as does the dealership's need for such storage space).
The second mall we went to was almost as bad. I'm so used to having to fight through masses of people rushing to finish their last minute gift shopping that it was a bit surreal to be in a large mall with only two shopping days left before Christmas and find ourselves almost alone. However, the lack of crowds made it much easier and less stressful finishing our own shopping.
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