Shoppers at the St Lukes Mall in Auckland on 23 December. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
Auckland shoppers have been out in force Monday, as they hunt for their last-minute Christmas gifts.
Two days before the big day, Sylvia Park Shopping Centre and Westfield St Lukes were lively with shoppers.
At St Lukes, Westfield staff stood in the rain to direct traffic throughout the mall's enormous carpark.
Shoppers lined up to have their gifts wrapped, as children waited for Santa Claus to return from his lunch break.
Christmas at St Lukes Mall. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
On the other side of town, shoppers hauled bags along the lengthy Sylvia Park shopping strip.
Tracy hoped to cram as much shopping into as little time as possible.
"It's very stressful, but I always know what I've got in mind, so I try to go to the particular places without being side-tracked," she said.
"I'm focused. I want to get in and I want to get out."
On his way out of the Sylvia Park mall, Ben admitted he was a repeat last-minute shopper.
"Yeah, it's a slight disaster, but I do it every year," he admitted.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I just bought most of my presents in Whitcoulls in the last two hours."
He felt the crowd was lighter than previous years.
"As an expert at shopping last minute, two days before Christmas this doesn't seem as busy as usual, but that might be because it's not a weekend."
Christmas at St Lukes Mall. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
Carl and Karinne were in a similar boat.
"We felt a bit unsure about a few things, so we thought we might get inspired by roaming through a few shops," Carl said.
"We were expecting it to be quite rammed. We parked way over on the other side because we thought there wouldn't be parks, but we were surprised."
Not everyone was Christmas shopping.
Izzy had finished buying gifts and was now stocking up for Rhythm and Vines.
"We mainly ordered [presents] online, to be honest," she said.
"Yes [it's busy], I've seen it busier a few weeks ago on Black Friday... That was insane, took me like half an hour to get out of the carpark."
Ruth was on a walk with her husband.
"We're older and he's got a few health issues, so walking inside... There are plenty of seats. It's a good long walk and enclosed," she said.
"It's not too bad, we came early. I certainly don't want to stay around later in the day or tomorrow, I think it'll be terrible."
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