Last-minute holiday shoppers on their experience shopping amid pandemic

It’s a stressful time to be doing your Christmas shopping during a pandemic.

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Last-minute holiday shoppers

“It’s pretty frustrating,” said Alejandra Ramirez of Midtown Sacramento. “I know what I want, so I go in and go out. I’m not the type of person that lingers, so it was difficult for me,” she said leaving Sacramento’s Arden Fair Mall Wednesday.

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With a limit on how many people can be in a single store at a time, this year, shoppers like Ramirez spent more time waiting in line to get in the store, than actually shopping in it.

After having to wait outside a second store, she decided to give up and walked out of the mall.

Other shoppers like Iris Price of Elk Grove said we’re lucky to have any stores open right now.

“We have to keep in mind that we’re blessed and thankful that these stores are at least open,” said Price. “So it is worth the wait, especially if you need items for your family.”

It took Mica Marley of San Francisco two hours to drive to Sacramento. She said it’s so much cheaper to shop in Sacramento than in the Bay Area.

“I’m coming here to shop for my kids, basically to get lots of kids stuff, boy toys, boy clothes,” she said.

“Luckily we did our shopping a little early,” said Paul Stawiecki who just moved to the Campus Commons neighborhood of Sacramento with his wife Shelby. “This is just last-minute stuff. We’re actually surprised a lot of stores are open like Macy’s when we heard they were going to be closed this time.”

Other shoppers decided to stay far away from the malls.

“I went to the mall one day, took pictures with Santa, and now we’re here at See’s,” said Marisa Buenrostro of Tahoe Park while standing outside the popular Candy store on Midtown Sacramento’s J street.

See’s Candies seemed to be a popular spot for those looking for last-minute Christmas gifts.

The line out the door there was pretty consistent for much of the evening.

“I was going to order stuff online. It wasn’t going to get here on time, so See’s was the next best thing,” said Aaron Carrillo of Midtown Sacramento who was also standing in line outside the See’s store.

A few doors away, Don Pittaro was walking out of Mike’s Camera with a large box of photography equipment.

“I was in line for 18 minutes,” he said. “It’s 55 degrees out. We all have masks, so our faces are warm.”

He said he recommends shopping local this year to support all the businesses that have had a difficult time surviving during the pandemic.

He said it’s important to also have a positive attitude.

“You got to wait in line a little bit, but there’s worse things in the world. So stay cool, smile, give everybody their distance, get through it, Stay in small groups, enjoy the holiday on Zoom, and we’ll figure it out next year,” he said.

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