Bay Area Stores Packed With Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers

Stores successful downtown Walnut Creek were bustling Friday with radical finishing up their last-minute vacation shopping.

Central streets were afloat of traffic, parking spaces were hard to travel by, and galore shoppers brought on their pets decked retired successful festive vacation sweaters.

"I wanna travel successful to get immoderate Christmas tone portion I walk immoderate money," said Chris Mann of Fairfax arsenic helium picked up gifts for his household astatine the stores successful Walnut Creek.

Mann admitted that his determination to store connected Christmas Eve was a substance of "complete procrastination and feeling blameworthy that I hadn’t spent capable money, truthful I came present and it was casual to find stuff."

The National Retail Federation expects that vacation buying volition rebound this year, noting that income could transcend past year's vacation income by arsenic overmuch arsenic 11.5%.

While many shoppers feared that the proviso concatenation situation this twelvemonth would interaction their vacation acquisition buying, each of the dozens of shoppers who spoke with NBC Bay Area Friday said they were capable to find each the gifts connected their lists this year.

Chalon Rogers of West Sacramento was successful the Bay Area visiting family. She dropped by Walnut Creek to find a fewer last gifts she'd forgotten about.

Rogers said, aft this past year, her household has been "just trying to beryllium smarter shoppers.

"I deliberation that’s what the proviso concatenation contented has taught america is to beryllium smarter shoppers," she said.

She besides noted that she is looking for much applicable gifts this year.

Some shoppers said they were buying to observe the accidental to walk the holidays with household aft having to beryllium isolated the twelvemonth before.

"This twelvemonth we get to each beryllium unneurotic due to the fact that we’re each triple vaxxed," said Regina Louise of Walnut Creek.

Louise was retired buying for precise circumstantial items for her children.

“[My] lad that asks for a PlayStation 5, helium is 35 years old," she said. "Do you perceive me? Thirty-five years old."

"And helium asked for a PlayStation 5, and conjecture what? I got it," Louise grinned proudly.

For immoderate shoppers similar Phillip Saddler and his girl Ava, buying connected Christmas Eve is portion of a household tradition. Saddler said helium likes the vacation bustle and goes buying exclusively connected Christmas Eve each year.

"Today, we’re buying for mommy. Ava gets to prime retired what she wants for her ma and I get to constitute the check," Saddler laughed.

Some shoppers reported seeing stressed-out customers and retail staff.

To anyone braving the stores successful idiosyncratic this clip of year, shopper Chris Mann offers this advice: "Have a large holiday. Be diligent with everybody. Everybody conscionable wants to beryllium understood and loved."