The OV Mall expects a busy weekend
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The Ohio Valley Mall had one of its busiest shopping days of the year last weekend and expects the busy streak to continue after Christmas.
Joe Bell, spokesperson for the mall's parent company Cafaro Co., said the mall's "Super Saturday" event held Dec. 19 was the mall's busiest day of the year, surpassing Black Friday.
"Super Saturday was extremely busy, busier than Black Friday. There are always a lot of last minute shoppers, this year it's more pronounced than ever," he said.
The annual event was held with the mall providing a variety of musical entertainment and hundreds of giveaways for shoppers to enjoy. Although the mall was unable to extend its holiday hours past 9:30 p.m. for the holidays due to COVID-19 restrictions, hundreds of people took advantage of the last Saturday shopping day before Christmas. The mall also held a chocolate bar giveaway to the first 200 shoppers that presented a receipt of $10 or more in mall store purchases. Shoppers received a chocolate bar along with a surprise gift including mall gift cards ranging up to $500.
"We have very few gifts left over from the event," he said. "It was a very busy day."
Last minute shoppers continued to flood the mall looking for last minute gifts on Christmas Eve, Bell said.
"It's been one of the busiest Christmas Eves we've seen in awhile," he said. "It's been very busy all day."
One potential reason for the increase in shoppers this season may be due to delayed online orders. Bell said many people may have been banking on online shopping and when their orders failed to arrive prior to Christmas, a trip to the mall may have been their last hope for gifts for loved ones.
"Many people may have been counting on presents getting delivered and that was rather hit-or-miss as we get close to Christmas, so many are going out to get back up presents," he said.
Another reason, Bell cited, is residents beginning to become more comfortable with leaving their homes and entering establishments amid the pandemic.
Bell said the mall is anticipating a busy weekend post-Christmas as well as many people begin to make returns.
"We're expecting a very big weekend because for all those people who were doing online shopping, a lot of them have been doing what we call bracketing – they'll get three or four varieties of the same item in different colors or sizes and take back the ones that didn't work out," he said.
Mall's retailers are prepared for the influx of shoppers returning items this year and have staffed accordingly, Bell said.