Dreading the hordes of shoppers at Western Bay of Plenty stores this Christmas season? You are not alone.
A Bayfair Shopping Centre poll which canvassed 450 people from the Tauranga area found that stress levels among local shoppers were substantially higher compared with three years ago.
The AMP Capital Shopping Centres (AMPCSC)poll revealed that 23 per cent of respondents were more stressed than last year, compared with just 7 per cent in 2007.
Of this year's respondents, 88 per cent said their number one cause of stress was crowds in shopping areas.
Traffic and parking followed close behind, with 83 per cent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing, while financial pressures ranked fourth, with 75 per cent similar votes.
Other stress factors were shopping for difficult-to-buy-for-people, gaining weight, post-Christmas bills and last-minute shopping.
Bayfair is owned by AMPCSC and senior marketing manager Desiree Clark said the study revealed a mixed picture overall.
"Although a nearly a quarter of Kiwis are more stressed, about two-thirds say there are no more stressed than this time last year," she said.
Tauranga residents shopping yesterday said crowds were a big issue for them.
Martin Bell said he found it stressful when more people were around and "people wander around that don't know what they are looking for".
"It's just annoying when there are so many people and you can't do your shopping easily," he said.
Fellow shopper Jamie Cantlon said the day Christmas fell on probably frayed people's nerves even more.
"This year it falls on the weekend, so people are probably going to be working right up until then, whereas if it fell on a Monday or Tuesday they would have that weekend time to be able to get ready or shop," Mr Cantlon said.
He was planning to get everything he needed early to avoid the last-minute rushes.
His comments mirrored the poll's results, which also found men stressed more than women only on one factor - last-minute shopping.
Rick Starr, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School, said that overall men stressed less while women felt the effects of financial pressures, people's gifts and gaining weight.
While 50-60 per cent of respondents were in total agreement on the top stresses, up to 95 per cent agreed on what they enjoyed - weather, family and friends, barbecues, giving gifts and outdoor activities.
Data from the poll was collected in October this year, using online questionnaires.
