Stores in the Aurora area were buzzing Monday as shoppers looked to grab a few more things with Christmas Day looming on Wednesday.
While some enjoy the hustle and bustle of last-minute shopping, others out Monday said were looking for some final gifts so that nobody gets left out or were victims of flat-out procrastination.
Dana Jarnutowski of St. Charles went to the Target store at 3885 E. Main St. in her hometown on Monday morning and admitted to “being a last-minute shopper. I’m a procrastinator.”
“I kind of gave up on Christmas last year as the kids were older, but I wanted to do more this year and I’m out trying to find those extra, last-minute things,” she said.
She said with Thanksgiving being on Nov. 28 this year, the latest date it can be celebrated, the traditional Christmas shopping season is shorter than normal.
“With the extra week that we lost between Thanksgiving and Christmas, everybody I’ve talked to from friends to people in the check-out lanes, everybody is stressed,” she said.
At Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Jennifer Montero, 18, said she was visiting from Milwaukee and bought some Nike shoes “for somebody else.”
“I kind of like the last minute because you see everyone getting their things, the Christmas music and the decorations, and if you go a week or so before it’s a little emptier,” she said. “I like it full.”
Ashley Gil of Aurora and her boyfriend Christopher Umanzor of Texas were each sporting matching red holiday pants at the mall Monday and said they were last-minute shoppers because of Umanzor.
“He’s a procrastinator and I just like to go and make sure I’ve satisfied everybody,” Gil explained.
“I don’t know why I’m like that. I’m last-minute and it could be for anything,” Umanzor said. “And you know what? It might be the adrenaline. I’m running out of time and it has to be done.”
Mitch Konrad of Naperville elected to stop in a jewelry store at the mall and said that “I still have a few people to check off and jewelry is definitely on my list.”
“I’ve known for a while that I’m going to get it but I haven’t decided anything yet,” he said. “I’m not usually a last-minute shopper. I start at Thanksgiving and finish around now but I’m a little behind.”
When Jake Biernbaum of Ocala, Florida, came up to visit family in the area for the holidays, he purposely put off doing some of his Christmas shopping which led to a last-minute trek to a Walmart in St. Charles Monday morning.
“My wife is born and raised here and we’re here with my in-laws and doing some last-minute Christmas shopping,” Biernbaum explained as he and his son Johnny, 7, pushed a cart down an aisle. “We are getting a few final things for the family instead of having to haul all the things up.”
Biernbaum said for him, “I own my business and you’re going and going all the time, and all of a sudden it’s about to be Christmas, and it can be very stressful for some people or emotional for some people.”
“All that pressure builds up and you get that last minute, ‘Oh, no!,’ and it can cause that last-minute rush,” he said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
