Holiday shoppers still out in force in Chicago area on day before Christmas Eve
LOMBARD, Ill. (CBS) -- Christmas is a mere two days away, and millions of people are expected to shop online and in-store to pick up their last-minute gifts.
At Yorktown Center in Lombard, just about everyone who spoke with CBS News Chicago on Monday said the act of going out and physically shopping puts them in the Christmas spirit.
Christmas décor adorned the halls of Yorktown Center, and Christmas songs were being played on a piano. But one of the main reasons people came out was to see Santa.
"It's really nostalgic, right?" said Connor Deamgelis, who came along with his wife and infant daughter. "We get to take her around, do all the stuff we did as kids and kind of relive that with her for the first time. It's been pretty fantastic."
There was a massive line for Santa inside Yorktown Center. Parents said they waited nearly an hour to get a picture with Old St. Nick.
The Grinch was there too—entertaining parents and perhaps scaring some kids a little on the way to see Santa.
Christmas is two days away, and many are still doing their last Christmas shopping.
The National Retail Federation said as of early December, consumers had bought half of the items on their Christmas list—while only 10% of people were completely done.
The federation also said shoppers are likely to embrace multiple channels as they wrap up their holiday shopping.
This year, 69.5 million people plan to shop both in-store and online.
That figure is up from 58.3 million in 2023.
Von Maur was one of the stores at Yorktown Center that saw a surge of shoppers Monday. Matthew Bruniga is the regional director of stores for Von Maur, and said its stores has more last-minute shoppers compared to previous years.
"I think with, you know, having the weekend before Christmas available, people really came out to the stores Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," he said. "Even today on Monday, we're seeing quite a bit of increased traffic that we've seen in years past."
Jennifer Moneyhun came out to Yorktown Center shop with her family. She said the reason she was shopping at the mall was because of her online orders.
"A few of my packages are not making it on time, so that's another reason I'm doing some last-minute shopping," Moneyhun said. "I waited too long to order."
Bruniga offered some advice to anyone who is still unsure what to get a spouse or mother-in-law.
"We've a lot of beautiful dresses with bows. We've got hair accessories," said Bruniga, "and don't forget it's Chicago winter—so we have our cold-weather bows too."
For true procrastinators who are waiting until Christmas Eve Tuesday to do their shopping, there's some good news. Von Maur said it will be open Christmas Eve.
