The Oxford Valley Mall was swamped “Super Saturday” with last-minute shoppers looking to take to stores before Christmas.
Throngs of people made traversing the Middletown mall slow going Saturday. Any and every store was packed and families with hands filled with bagged moved from store to store. This scene was recognizable for anyone who has ever set foot within a mall leading up to Christmas.
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The National Retail Federation found in a survey that 53 percent of consumers – about 126 million people – planned to shop on “Super Saturday,” the last Saturday before Christmas. About 6 percent of shoppers told the National Retail Federation they planned to finish shopping Christmas Eve with five percent stating they would not get their final gifts until after Christmas.
Locally, lots of shoppers used the mall as an opportunity to catch up and finish their shopping.
Tony Amato, a Middletown resident who lives in the Levittown section of, set out to get a lot done, but he was not totally successful.
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“What bothers me is that I have all year, and I still always wait until the last minute,” Amato said jokingly.
For lots of people, the hustle and bustle of the mall right before Christmas is something to be avoided at any and all cost. Off-duty Falls Township police Officer John Yeager was doing a little last minute shopping with his daughter on Saturday and didn’t see the crowds as a reason to stay home.
“It is great to get out and see the crowds and just be part of it,” Yeager said.He added the mob scene didn’t bother him because he expected the crowds.
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As it turns out, not everyone at the mall on Saturday had last minute shopping to do. James and Millie Jones came to the mall from New Jersey to pick up their glasses from Cohen’s. The couple had finished their shopping well before the final weekend, they explained.
“It is good to see people getting out and shopping,” James said.
Millie said there were more cars in the parking lot than the couple had ever seen.
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“Christmas Eve is a crazy day and I think that is the day we would have stayed away from the mall,” she added.
Pop Anderson lives in Texas but is visiting his girlfriend for the holiday season. The two were at the mall getting some last minute shopping done on Saturday.
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