Shirley Matthews with some of the shopping she had done in Whangārei's Cameron St Mall. Photo/Tania Whyte
Shirley Matthews with some of the shopping she had done in Whangārei's Cameron St Mall. Photo/Tania Whyte
Shirley Matthews is one of hundreds of Northlanders who have been trawling the shops for Christmas presents in the days before Christmas.
The Hokianga woman made the trip to Whangārei yesterday to shop for her siblings, their partners, her nieces and nephews and her partner's family.
When the Northern Advocatespoke to her, she said she was about "half and half" on being prepared for Christmas.
Whangārei PaperPlus owner Barry Wienandsaid yesterday was the first day it had really been "off the charts" with customers.
He said before that it had been pretty quiet. He thought it might be because Christmas falls on Tuesday and people think they still have the weekend to shop.
Since the rush started, he said books had been popular, while the gift items he thought would be more of a "last minute thing".
A manager at Endless Summah, a surf shop, said the "drastic change" in customer numbers started on Wednesday and she thought the extra activity would stick around right up until Christmas.
Sandi Oxenham, who owns Santreno Shoes, has seen a steady rise in the number of people going back to the start of December.
She said Christmas Eve was usually their biggest day, despite not being a traditional gift selling store.
Oxenham said often, after buying gifts, people think of buying for themselves. "We all like new shoes for Christmas."
Kiwis spent $282.4 million on last year's peak shopping day on December 21.
DHL Express NZ experienced its biggest delivery day for the year on Tuesday and was expecting a seven per cent increase on December last year.
A spokesman said the e-commerce sector had experienced significant recent growth and change in consumer patterns, with 36 per cent of Kiwi businesses generating up to 20 per cent of their orders online, and 16 per cent generating 990 to 100 per cent of orders online.
Retail NZ general manager Greg Harford said overall they were noticing a relatively slow start to the Christmas period, and customers were after more value and good deals.
The most common items being purchased this season were technology goods, food and alcohol.
The Northern Advocate hit the streets of Whangārei yesterday and asked people if they were prepared for Christmas and if they had done any shopping online.
