Residents brave cold for last minute shopping

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The countdown is on and only a short time is left until Christmas, last minute shoppers are out in full force.

Local businesses were prepared for Friday’s rush. Even with the very low temperatures, people have been out in town trying to find that perfect gift for their loved ones or doing Christmas dinner shopping. It has all impacted businesses in Wichita Falls.

Christmas can mean different things for different people. For Christians around the globe, it’s a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. For others, it’s about spending time with family, tradition, even Santa, and of course shopping for the perfect gift.

“I’ve been online shopping for weeks, it’s taken forever but I’m just getting some last-minute gifts for the family. Trying to do it in the cold so I’m just trying to get it done before tonight and then wrapping gifts as well,” Collin Patterson, a Market Street shopper, said.

Market Street store director Josh Griffins said they have started to see a pre-pandemic number of customers and have fully prepared for the madness they see the week before Christmas.

“We did we increased our number of staff and we made sure that we have plenty of product, we’ve got tons of products in our back rooms just waiting for our guests,” Griffins said.

It’s not just places like Market Street that have a lot of business around this time. Last-minute shoppers have also increased sales to local businesses like Tootsie Lou’s. A boutique that opened in Wichita Falls three years ago. Joey Young, the owner’s husband, said they usually see a boom in business during the holidays but inflation has made things a bit different this year.

“Everything’s been going up, especially shipping. So it’s been cutting in. She charges less than some others might so we’ve been cutting into our profits, but we’ve been making due and it’s been okay. It hasn’t hurt us too bad,” Young said.

Tortilleria Lupitas is a Wichita Falls restaurant and meat market with holiday sales to increase the number of customers. Owner Luis Bargas said it’s been good for business.

“It matters to us more to have a satisfied customer than a lot of profit. It’s better to help than to receive. That comes later. But now that we’ve been growing as a small business as a small restaurant, it’s gone very well for us to implement that. Small profit but a lot of customers,” Bargas said.

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