Shoppers fill the mall on Christmas Eve

JACKSON, Tenn. — Some West Tennessee shoppers waited until the last possible day to mark items off their christmas shopping list. Christmas Eve 2016, the Old Hickory Mall parking lot was full as shoppers searched the mall for the perfect gifts. But with just hours before Christmas, why did folks wait until the last minute to shop?

“We doing a lot of working, work all the time,” shopper Welton Johnson said.

“Cause she drags us around everywhere,”  Landon Maness said about his mother.

“We like to wait till the last minute to go shopping because we dont get our money until today,” shopper Brionna Reeves said.

“I came to get a late present for my mom,” Katlyn Hudson said.

“Grab some last minute Christmas gifts because I never get everything early, so I’m always last minute,” shopper Kimberly Maness said.

Although everyone pretty much had the same agenda the day before Christmas, some say it was the deals they were after.

“Yeah, I’m looking for me a great deal, a good bargain,” shopper Anna Mae Johnson said.

“We had some last minute gifts to get for the children and we just decided to come out and plus I like to come out in t he crowd too,” shopper Starlet Franklin said. “I had to go get the last minute bargains. The lines moved fast we didn’t have hardly no wait.”

And the crowds didn’t seem to be a factor.

“It’s good to be up in there with a lot of people,” Johnson said. “Ain’t no fussing ain’t no fighting. Everything is alright.”

Even last minute shoppers still have gifts to wrap, everyone has their own reason to look forward to Christmas day.
“I’m ready, I’m ready boy,” Hudson said. “Ready to open up them little presents. Ready to get this money. That’s all I asked for.”

“Family time some more of it,” Reeves said.

“I try and teach my children that the reason for the season is christ not gifts,” Franklin said.

Only a few stores are open like CVS and Walgreens. A few restaurants like Appleebees and Waffle House are also staying open for Christmas day.