CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The holiday sales are over and now we’re seeing just how much people spent.
One study revealing that despite the omicron variant and inflation, many of us shopped ‘til we dropped. With so many sales this holiday season, shoppers broke records and maybe even the bank.
“There’s been a lot of sales, man,” Sabino Cruz told us as he did some post-holiday shopping at La Palmera mall.
Cameron Bigs, also doing some post-shopping at the mall, told us he comes “every day, honestly.”
According to the survey, unlike other years, this year saw many people wanting to go to the store rather than place their orders online. The survey revealed holiday sales were up 8.4% and that’s the strongest rate in 17 years.
People left the keyboard behind for the in-person experience leading to more than expected sales for clothes, jewelry, and electronics. And when it comes to the department stores? They rebounded too, 21% since 2020.
We asked consumer expert Lisa Miller what the numbers told her.
"What its telling us is that yes, omicron was definitely a cloud over everybody’s head but the joy of getting back to normal activities actually kind of ruled the day.”
Miller going on to tell us that there were two concerns going into the holidays. The two Grinches that COULD have stolen Christmas. First—the omicron variant.
"I’m tired of hearing about it," Cruz told us.
The other Grinch? Inflation.
"We are very aware of inflation. You know, you just budget," said shopper Nicky Garcia. "Kids still need clothes. Kids still need groceries, you are still going to get out there? I still have to do what you gotta do."
"You gotta live life man," said Cruz.
Miller says this serves as a glimpse going into the future. She says there’s concern from consumers about omicron yet at the same time saying – it's significantly lower than the delta variant.
