The Coopers of Branford weren’t the only ones braving Saturday’s shopping chaos at Westfarms.
“It’s craziness,” said Mike Cooper, holding his little son.
First on the to-do list, trying to find a parking spot.
“Just a lot of people. You have to find somewhere to park, that part is kind of not fun, but it’s always worth it,” said Kiley Sharpe, of Manchester.
But what’s worth it is seeing the surprise on his wife’s face Wednesday, “Anniversary is on the 26, Christmas is on the 25, so we’re getting both gifts tonight," he said.
And spending time with his daughter, “it’s really fun,” said his 11-year-old Kiyah.
Gabi Chrusciel agrees, “it’s been really fun. We went to a lot of stores.”
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She’s celebrating her 10 birthday shopping.
A spokesperson for Westfarms said about 1/3 of their holiday shoppers are procrastinators, but as long as they have the patience parking and browsing among so many people their pocketbooks will be thanking them.
“And for those that did wait, we’ll definitely pay off because our promotions and deals with retailers are outstanding,” said Westfarms spokesperson Amanda Sirica.
Checking back in on the Coopers, “we are very last minute people thanks to my wife…She doesn’t like to shop online and she likes to start in all of the 2s in December... 20-24 that’s her prime time,” he said.
Their son was a trooper as he and his parents traversed West Farms for hours. “People stopping everywhere like us, waiting until the last minute, but we survived,” he said.
Sirica’s advice for last minute shoppers is to give yourself extra time for parking and map out what stores you want to go to before you go shopping to avoid crisscrossing the mall with the crowds.
