Staff file photo by Erin O. Smith / A constant stream of Black Friday shoppers uses the stairs while looking for deals at Hamilton Place mall. Super Saturday is expected to be the second busiest shopping day of the year.Sarah Brown and Zac Hayes had done little Christmas shopping before Friday, but they weren't worried even as they joined the throng of procrastinators near Hamilton Place mall.
"He owns a restaurant and I work at a hospital. We've been trying to get our schedules lined up," Brown said outside of Academy Sports + Outdoors.
Today is expected to ring in the second busiest shopping day of 2017 behind Black Friday.
Dubbed Super Saturday, retail analytics firm ShopperTrak notes that the day is perfectly situated this year ahead of Christmas Day on Monday.
"The masses of shoppers who will likely hit the stores at the last minute make the Super Saturday a solid contender for busiest day No. 2," the firm reports.
Many stores are extending hours to take advantage of the expected high volume of shopping traffic.
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Some 53 percent of consumers, about 126 million people, plan to shop on Super Saturday, according to the National Retail Federation.
Department store chain Kohl's is staying open around the clock through 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.
Toys R Us began a 63-hour shopping marathon which started at 6 a.m. Friday and ends at 9 p.m. Christmas Eve.
Hamilton Place mall has broadened its hours from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. While closed Christmas, the mall will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.
Outside the mall, some stores are staying open longer this weekend. For example, Markmans jewelry store is extending its hours, open to 9 p.m. today and untilw 6 p.m. on Sunday, said employee Brad Fulghum.
"It's been good," he said about business over the Christmas holiday period. "We're doing fairly well."
Holiday retail sales are expected to increase between 3.6 percent to 4 percent over last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Still, there has been a lot of procrastination, according to NRF.
Britt Adams of Dalton, Ga., said Friday in East Brainerd that he still had a few items to pick up.
"My wife is taking care of most things," he said. "She sent me out to get a few things."
An NRF survey found that only 12 percent of consumers had finished their holiday shopping as of Dec. 12.
Some 53 percent of consumers, about 126 million people, plan to shop on Super Saturday, according to the federation.
"Stores will be packed the next few days as consumers rush to complete their shopping, and anybody ordering online at this point should probably choose in-store pickup as their delivery option," NRF Chief Executive Matthew Shay said in a statement.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.