With Christmas less than a week away shoppers are trying to get the rest of their presents under the tree. That was definitely the case at Park City Mall in Lancaster. “I’m just getting started with my family” said Mike Stike of Lancaster. He’s got a long way to go when it comes to holiday shopping. For him that’s not as scary as it seems. “I kind of know what they like and what they don’t like so I don’t really find it stressful. As a matter of fact for me it’s kind of fun” says Stike.
Stike is one of more than 30 million Americans that have waited till mid December to start their holiday shopping according to the National Retail Federation. That’s one of the reasons why traffic at the Park City Mall is picking up. For many shoppers the challenge isn’t actually buying the presents it’s hiding them. Darrell Dombach of Lancaster bought a special piece of jewelry for his wife. He said “it’s a gift in a small box in a specific bag so if she see’s it she’ll have a pretty good idea of what it is so I’m trying to work it out with my daughter to slip it into one of her bags when my wife’s not looking.”
Not everyone at the mall was shopping. Ken Haverstick of Lancaster said “two laps around is about 3 miles for us so it gets the blood circulating, work up a little sweat and get the juices flowing. It feels good.”