Winnipeggers rush to shop last-minute on Christmas eve
Posted December 24, 2025 3:48 pm.
Last Updated December 24, 2025 3:59 pm.
It’s Christmas eve and last-minute shoppers are racing against the clock, and hoping the perfect gift is still in stock.
At a mall in Winnipeg, shoppers were on a mission moving quickly, with arms full of bags, looking to find the right gift before the doors close for the big day tomorrow.
“I mean personally I did not have a lot of time to shop so my last-minute shopping. Also, I want a gift to everybody enough stuff and I want everybody to be happy right,” said one shopper.
According to Visa Canada, retail spending was up 4.4 percent year-over-year across all payment types. They say 88 percent of total holiday spending happened in store, while 12 percent came from online shopping. The report also shows that Canadians spent 10 per cent more this year on clothing and accessories and one-stop shops were the top choice for consumers.
“I am in extreme-level of stress right now. I have five kids and lots of nieces and nephews and when I was home yesterday trying to wrap stuff, I realized I should probably buy some more stuff,” said another shopper.
Not everyone is a stressed out last-minute shopper, though.
“Ten years ago, we started this tradition where we were finished all our Christmas shopping, and we were like ‘let’s just spend time together on Christmas eve and come to the mall and have fun and let’s just watch people scrambling for last-minute gifts.’ It’s so fun to people watch and see people going crazy trying to Christmas shop and we just enjoy hanging out and just maybe buying some stuff for ourselves,” said Nola Bowering.
“We also sing and we will do a little dances, so we’re just blessing everybody with our craziness as well,” said Cindi Eastman.
While many say they did wait until the very last minute, some are taking away more than shopping bags home.
One shopper said, “To have no stress for Christmas start buying gifts in June, July, start way ahead because now I’m stressed like nothing is in stock. It’s really bad”
“Be nice to the retail workers because they’re gonna also be very stressed out,” said another.
