It’s late morning last Wednesday — with six shopping days left before Christmas the shoppers at Kinston’s Walmart Supercenter mainly consist of those buying food and other regular household items.
Shift Manager Charles Mayhue warned that will change later in the day, however, especially as shoppers seek out those final Christmas gifts.
“When it picks up, it seems like it just floods,” Mayhue said. “People come out of everywhere.”
He said many big-ticket gifts on sale at Walmart, such as televisions, iPads and other electronics were purchased on Black Friday after Thanksgiving, and have been placed on layaway.
Shoppers “have been very conservative about their money,” and focused more on buying household essentials in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Mayhue explained.
He noted toys and bicycles have been popular Christmas gifts among Walmart shoppers, as well as “ride-on” toys such as child-size John Deere tractors.
Many shoppers have been waiting until the last minute in the hope of picking up a good deal.
“You'd be surprised how many people come in and shop for that last minute item,” Mayhue said.
Store Manager Matt MacIntosh said electronics have also been popular among Christmas shoppers.
He said staffers working the store’s third shift from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. spend much of their time restocking shelves, so when shoppers come in at 7 a.m., “It's as full as it can possibly be.”
Walmart will close at 8 p.m. Monday for Christmas Eve, and will be closed all day Tuesday for Christmas.
“That's the only day of the year that we’re closed,” MacIntosh said.
The store will open again at 5 a.m. Wednesday for the crush of post-Christmas shoppers.
Last Wednesday, Heather Thigpen of Snow Hill and her husband Justin brought their 4-year-old daughter Kadence and 7-month-old son Carter through toy aisles laden with Barbie dolls, Legos, board games, puzzles, even Angry Birds-themed toys based on the popular downloadable video game.
Heather Thigpen said she had found gifts for her immediate family, and was currently shopping for extended family members.
She said it had been “pretty easy” to find the desired gifts.
Rebekah Burke of Kinston also found what she was looking for last Wednesday. She and her girlfriend Kayla Lanekinsyk went shopping in Walmart later in the afternoon, as the number of shoppers began to pick up.
“We’ve got everything,” Burke said as she put a Nerf dart gun — a gift for her nephew — in the trunk of their car. “That wraps it all up.”
Last minute by necessity
Some shoppers must wait until the last minute to buy Christmas gifts because they either cannot afford to shop sooner, or they are working up to the last minute.
“You have to budget your money. … You have to pay your bills and you have to get for your kids at the same time,” Tanita Simpler of Kinston said as she stood in the Walmart parking lot.
Simpler had purchased the majority of the gifts her 14 and 9-year-old sons wanted for Christmas, but she was waiting to purchase an XBOX 360 gaming console for her older son in the hope the price would drop closer to Christmas.
“Sometimes things take all your money, but as long as you know that your kid’s happy it’ll be all right,” the working single mother said.
Simpler said seeing children with no gifts on Christmas morning will “really have you stressed out, crying.”
“It's always something,” she continued. “As long as you keep your head up and keep striving and working, everything will be all right. God makes ways, he makes ways — he makes things happen.”
Shawn Hill and Melshawn Moore, both of Kinston, were working as bell ringers for the Salvation Army in front of Walmart last Wednesday.
They said they were scheduled to work nearly every day, collecting money in the Salvation Army’s signature red kettles, through Christmas Eve. They also said they would not get paid until Christmas Eve, leaving them little time to shop for their loved ones.
“Hopefully, everything should work out, if I get off early enough,” said Moore, who will also celebrate his 26th birthday on Christmas.
He added: “It is what it is — I get paid on Monday, it’s the day before my birthday and I still have Christmas shopping to do.”
Hill eagerly rang his bell, smiling and waving at Walmart shoppers, greeting them and telling them to smile because “Santa’s watching.”
“I pray to God every morning that I make it to work every morning, with my health and strength, to be on time,” he said.
Hill, who has to purchase gifts for his children, parents and siblings, said he might not be able to shop before Christmas, but expected to see some very good after-Christmas deals.
“The main thing that they want is for me to come home for Christmas,” he said of his parents and siblings — his children live out of state. “That’s like the biggest present.”
Maj. Robin Starr, corps officer for the Salvation Army’s Kinston office, said bell ringers will get off in “plenty of time” on Monday to go shopping.
“Usually we shut down around 2 or 3 p.m. so everybody can do their shopping and get back to their families — including us; I know my kids would like for me to be home on Christmas Eve,” he said.
The funds raised through the Salvation Army kettles are meant to cover programs at Christmas and the rest of the year.
Starr said Friday the goal this year is to raise $60,000, but “at this point it doesn’t look like we’re going to reach our goal unless we do exceptionally well.”
Avoiding the crush
Wayne Waters of Greene County came to the Kinston Walmart with his wife Melanie last week.
They were not Christmas shopping, though, but rather buying household items while visiting relatives in Kinston.
“We’ve pretty much wrapped up our Christmas shopping,” Waters said as he sat in his pickup truck, waiting for his wife to come out of the store.
Waters said he and his wife did the majority of their Christmas shopping online, allowing them to avoid the crush of stores.
“I've never been one to wait in line at a store at 4 a.m.,” he said. “Granted, I might not get the deal from shopping in the store, but paying the extra money is worth not standing in a line.”
Frances Deaver of Wooten’s Crossroads walked up to the Sears store at Vernon Park Mall last week with her daughter, Peggy Pate of Scott’s Store in Duplin County.
Deaver said she was buying a washer and dryer for her and her husband. She said she typically gives money to her loved ones at Christmas.
“Let them spend and run around and do all the walking,” she explained. “I always try to make sure that my grandkids get something that nobody else does.”
Pate said she was still catching up on Christmas shopping for her nieces and nephews.
“It's just been a real busy season for us, we’ve had a lot of activities,” she said, citing a visit she made to a daughter who lives in California. “I just didn't get everything done before now, and I’m still trying to catch up, to finish up.”
Pate said she is not focusing on buying the latest, hottest items.
“Being a grandmother and an aunt, that's not as big of as an issue now as when our kids were young,” she said. “We’re just getting things that we know they can benefit from.”
David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.
BREAKOUT BOX:
Here are hours of operation for some local retailers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day:
Walmart:
Christmas Eve: Close 8 p.m.
Christmas: Closed
Kmart:
Christmas Eve: 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
Christmas: Closed
Belk:
Christmas Eve: 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
Christmas: Closed
JC Penney:
Christmas Eve: 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
Christmas: Closed
Walgreens:
Christmas Eve: 8 a.m.-10 p.m., store; 8 a.m.-5 p.m., pharmacy
Christmas: 9 a.m.-6 p.m., store; pharmacy closed