Shopping Crowds Smaller Than Expected Saturday

Toys, electronics, clothes, camping gear, jewelry and decorations could be found throughout the giant retailer and some people had their carts overflowing with presents.

But the expectations of wall-to-wall shoppers, long lines at the check-out counters and empty shelves were not met on the last Saturday before Christmas.

"It's been busy, but it's nothing like Black Friday," said Target employee Christina French, referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving - notoriously one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

"Usually it's dead in early December," said store manager Linda Fleiscer. "It sort of gives us a calm before the storm."

But the storm never came Saturday - at least not at cyclone levels.

All 13 check-out lanes were open in the early afternoon, but none had more than six people waiting in line. The clerks smiled and greeted customers, who in turn calmly and collectively pulled cash and credit cards out of their wallets and purses. No one seemed to be working or shopping with an obvious sense of urgency.

"You can buy everything you want in one store," said Kathy Bauman of Spring Hill, who was shopping with her daughter Saturday. She believed the smaller crowds were a result of so many people being able to buy all of their presents in one place at one time. "Target carries everything you could need."

"Times are a changing," her daughter said. "Who has time these days to go to 10 different stores?"

The scenes at most malls may still look the same every December, but Hernando County residents have never had one of those close by. But with three Wal-Mart super centers and one Target store available along all three major roads, they still have a lot available choices.

Lisa Piecora lives in Long Island, N.Y. She came to visit her mother and grandmother in Spring Hill in time for Christmas. The three generations of shoppers were crowded around a DVD display Saturday, picking out the best movies they could find.

"It really hasn't been that bad this year," said grandmother Marie D'Albert.

The mother, Donna Piecora, said the three of them visited Citrus Park Mall in Tampa as well as the newer retailers at Coastal Way - Old Navy, Michaels, Petco, etc.

They have had their taste of big crowds during the busy shopping season, but Lisa Piecora saw the worst of it on Black Friday while in New York.

"It took two-and-a-half hours for us to drive on a four-lane highway," she said, recalling her experience trying to get to a shopping mall four weeks earlier. "Even when we got to the store they wouldn't let us inside. There were too many people."

Claude and Debbie Mooney, of Weeki Wachee, were bracing themselves for such an event Saturday. The two of them were openly relieved at the smaller crowd inside the Spring Hill Target.

"This hasn't been too bad," Claude Mooney said. "It's a lot less crowded than I expected."

Nonetheless, waiting until the last few days before Christmas to shop did have its share of consequences. The same goes for waiting until the afternoon to shop rather than early in the morning.

Mooney missed out on the gift he really wanted - a digital picture frame.

"Someone grabbed it before I could get to it," he said while smiling and shaking his head. "We're not early risers."