last minute shoppers go down to the wire

The National Retail Federation estimates 30 million shoppers still had plenty of gifts to buy at the beginning of this week. And now they're pretty much out of time and all the last-minute shopping

Saturday, December 24th 2005, 5:25 pm

By: News On 6

The National Retail Federation estimates 30 million shoppers still had plenty of gifts to buy at the beginning of this week. And now they're pretty much out of time and all the last-minute shopping is an early Christmas present for retailers.

Hundreds of Santa's little helpers were out doing his bidding, albeit at the final hour.

Clint Pokorny, Last-Minute Shopper: "yeah i just drove in from santa fe new mexico and the grandparents are up in Miami so I was like ok gotta do some shopping."

William Kinnard, Last Minute Shopper:"I'm just a procrastinator I'm just one of those guys

And many didn't just have one or two gifts to get.

Bob Bartmann, Last-Minute Shopper: "I got eleven brothers and sisters total. I got to buy nine gifts today."

Deanna Jones, Last-Minute Shopper: "my nieces and nephews my son my friends kids... a little bit of everybody."

Clint Pokorny, Last-Minute Shopper: "you don't wanna know... I'll be here for a while."

Nerve-wracking for these shoppers, but music to retailers ears. This week, last-minute shoppers pushed sales up four percent over this time last year. And the National Retail Federation estimates that holiday sales will top 439-billion dollars, six percent higher than last year.

Lauren Harris, Woodland Hills Mall: "its unique that we have the two saturdays. Last Saturday was very busy... sunday was busy.. today was busy and we think it'll stay busy until we close at six oclock tonight."

Amber Lemon, The Childrens Place Assistant Manager: "i think it helps paychecks everybody's getting paid at the last minute got a lot of those last minute shoppers coming in and trying to finish up. I think it helps."

With the clock winding down, these shoppers insist they're going to get it all done.

Deanna Jones, Last-Minute Shopper: "yes I have no choice."

Bob Bartmann, Last-Minute Shopper: "I've already got my sister lined up at 3:30 to do all the wrapping, so I got that part covered cause I can't wrap. And I have a list of what I'm supposed to buy... I'm having a little trouble... but I think I can get it done."

The stores are closed but for those true procrastinators, there's still a way for you to get your shopping done. Wal-Mart and Apple I-tunes both offer electronic gift cards that you can buy even on Christmas day and they're delivered by email within hours.