SARASOTA – It’s super Saturday: the last Saturday before Christmas. At the University Town Center mall, many Suncoast shoppers came out buy some last-minute Christmas Gifts.
UTC Marketing Director, Lauren Clarke, says the number of people is well above last year in terms of traffic and sale volume in stores. She says UTC usually sees more than a hundred thousand shoppers in the days right before Christmas.
Julie Mitchem and Connie Gatewood from Punta Gorda shop at UTC, per tradition, because they enjoy the Christmas Crowd and the sales.
“It’s the last Saturday before Christmas and we have a tradition that we like to come right before Christmas and come get our last minute shopping and look around and see what’s new and what’s going on with the sales,” Julie Mitchem said.
“We enjoy the Christmas crowd,” Connie Gatewood said.
“Yea, we like the crowd,” Mitchem said.
The mall has extended its operating hours for the days before Christmas.