Heading to the mall to finish shopping? Good luck!
Posted December 24, 2015 11:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The malls are expected to be packed today with people jumping into the throngs of holiday shoppers trying to cross a few final items off their lists.
In fact, Metropolis at Metrotown might seem like the last place you want to be as the clock ticks down on Christmas Eve.
But Judy Black with the mall says if you’re there and you’re stuck for anything, just look for someone in a bright orange uniform.
“They offer help on finding a store or even suggestions on what to buy. That’s their job. They’re stationed throughout the mall and their job is to provide extra customer service at this time that we don’t normally provide during the rest of the year,” says Black.
And if you still can’t make up your mind, Black says they have a solution for that too.
“We actually have a couple of gift card kiosks set up through the mall near the customer service booth. They’re just an extra place for people to buy gift cards. At the very last minute, if someone is stuck on the perfect gift to buy, I highly recommend a gift card because you can use it almost all of our 400 stores and the recipient can certainly find something they love with that,” says Black.
The mall is also helping to get you in and out as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid gridlock.
“We have flaggers for example, that will be in and around the parking entrances and right out on to the city streets that will be helping to direct traffic in and out of the parkades so that people can get in and out as efficiently as possible,” she adds.
In Vancouver, Oakridge Centre is following a similar path.
“We always make sure that we have enough staff to take care of everybody, whether it’s security, or housekeeping staff or the food court people. Everybody works together to make it as easy as possible at Oakridge Centre for the shopper to really just enjoy their last-minute rush,” says Brenda Longland with the mall.
Brenda Longland with the mall says the highest concentration of shoppers there tend to go after a certain category.
“Usually on the last day it’s kind of the chocolates and people will come into the Safeway here and get their groceries as well. It really is those last-minute hostess kind of gifts rather than the personal gifts.”
Even though both malls will have extra staff in their respective parking lots, both Longland and Black recommend taking transit if you can.
