VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's downtown core filled with shoppers Sunday, as residents rushed to finish buying gifts on the last weekend before Christmas.
Some planned ahead. Michael Labonto arrived at the Pacific Centre just after it opened.
“I came down just before 11, I thought I better get in early because of parking," Labonto said.
The relatively smaller crowds this year could be due to a change in shopping habits. A recent survey by Insights West found 45 per cent of people in B.C. were planning to do most of their Christmas shopping online this year.
“I did a lot of shopping online,” one woman said. “I’m going for sales. If you buy something for like $60 and you get a free gift, you can’t get that in the stores. Only online.”
Canadians are also not expected to be buying too much this year. Recent surveys by Equifax Canada and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada found a majority were planning to spend less. CPA Canada estimates average holiday spending at $583, down from $643 the previous year.
According to the Equifax survey, 55 per cent of Canadians said they would be reining in spending in 2019.
“It’s a matter of trying to keep things in budget,” shopper Charlotte Scott said, noting that she had accidentally spent too much in the past. “I made a list this time of what I was going to get.”
Fathers Tony Spadafora and Peter Virvilis seem to have cracked the code.
“We’re here with our daughters, we gave them the list they’re buying everything for us.” Virvilis said. “So we’re just going to sit down, talk for a bit, have a coffee and that’s it.”
