Many Christmas shoppers brave Super Saturday. Here’s what the scene was like at one mall

A steady stream of shoppers filed into Fashion Fair Mall on Saturday, looking to get in on some last-minute shopping before Christmas. As mid-morning gave way to afternoon, the parking lot filled up and lines lengthened on a day known as Super Saturday, or the last Saturday before Christmas.

A total of 126 million people nationwide – or 53 percent of consumers – planned to shop on Super Saturday, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics.

Fifty-five percent of consumers finished their gift shopping by Friday, according to the NRF survey, but 6 percent expect to be shopping on Christmas Eve. Five percent say they won’t buy their final gifts until after Christmas.

Fashion Fair shopper Victoria Madrid sat outside the mall Saturday afternoon as her daughter played around the large Christmas tree.

She said she held out shopping until the last minute, but not because of procrastination.

“I was hoping for better sales.”

Madrid said she was at Fashion Fair on Friday scoping out the sales, and returned Saturday to see if waiting would pay off. “I like going to every store to get the best price,” she said, “but they were all the same today.”

What surprised Madrid was the peacefulness of shoppers on Saturday. “It’s not as packed as I thought it would be.”

Lee Vang traveled from Merced and said shoppers, including herself, seemed to be in a good mood Saturday. She, too, thought the mall would be more crowded.

“The lines are long, but not as long as after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday,” she said. “It just feels like Christmas and it’s good to see everyone in a good mood.”

Vang smiled as she said she only came to the mall to get herself a few gifts – she hit up Sephora, Forever 21 and JCPenney – and said she would be doing more of her gift shopping later at Target and Walmart.

“I still have shopping to get done before Monday. If I don’t get everything done today, then tomorrow. But not Monday,” she laughed.

Vang didn’t seem stressed out. “I’m always a last-minute person,” she said.

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Many Christmas shoppers brave Super Saturday. Here’s what the scene was like at one mall."