WATCH: The busiest shopping day of the year could be just around the corner. Ceilidh Millar reports.
As the countdown to Christmas begins, the number of holiday shoppers is increasing at malls and shopping centres across the Capital Region.
“I have a list because I don’t want to forget anybody on Christmas,” said one shopper.
“My shopping is going great so far,” explained another. “I’m doing the last little bits and pieces today and then we’re all set.”
As shoppers tick the final gifts off their Christmas lists, the hours leading up to the merriest day of the year are, not surprisingly, expected to be the busiest.
“This past weekend is when we saw our numbers jump,” explained general manager Laura Poland of the Mayfair Shopping Centre. “It’s that excitement as the last few days before Christmas approach.”
Although Black Friday or Boxing Day are often considered the busiest shopping days of the year, there is a new date in the running.
According to data released by Interac, Canadians made more than 24 million debit transactions in 2016 on Friday, December 23 totalling $1.2 billion in purchases.
This Friday, Canadians are expected to top that with more than 25 million transactions.
Interac predicts December 22 could be the busiest shopping day of 2017.
“We definitely will see tens of thousands over the next couple of days,” Poland said.
Volunteer gift wrappers at Mayfair are also racing to keep ahead of the mountain of incoming presents.
Shoppers can get their gifts wrap by donation with proceeds going towards the Mustard Seed Food Bank.
“We average maybe 250 [presents] a day,” explained volunteer Jenna Buhrmann. “We’re getting more as we get closer to Christmas.”
Ceilidh Millar
