How busy are the shops?

[Kibble29]

Of course I know it’ll vary by area but in general, is it terrible out there?

I’ve done all my shopping online so far, but feel like I’m missing the experience of shopping. Am I mental? Will I regret venturing into the grabby wasteland that is a city shopping area? Does everyone come back alive from a weekend trip?

I went to the local retail park about 6pm the other night as they're open until 8pm
Expected it to be crazy but it wasn't at all

A lot of shops have sold out of Christmasy stock. Some shops you'd hardly notice it's almost Christmas. My nearest Asda basically had one aisle for (non food) Christmas stuff. I went in today and most of the aisle was empty with a few random tree decorations left.
Shops I've been in recently don't seem very busy at all. The only busy one was Smyths Toy Superstore.
I also went into central London the other day (Oxford Street/Tottenham Court Rd etc). Lots of tourists around. Shops were very quiet.

Go with someone and you can at least have a chat if shopping is too much.

I guess it's how you approach things, if you get annoyed other people are around doing the exact same thing you are at the same time then perhaps going shopping second to last weekend/week before Christmas isn't the activity for you. But if you can accept it's a busy purchasing time of the year and enjoy the hustle and bustle then go for it!

I've done all my shopping online, but went to the Range mid morning the other Wednesday for something completely non-Christmas(for work), and it was horrendous.

Normally when I go out at lunchtime during the week, I can get parked without any problems but the car park was really busy.

Sainsbury's is busier that usual too I've found.

Major city centre was awful last weekend but then there’s Xmas markets and ice rink etc on and a lot of people out for drinks & meals as well as shopping. I went to the local retail park one evening midweek and it was quiet but I won’t be going near it at weekend!

In our retail park, lots of people in Next and M&S but not so much the other shops, some of the smaller retailers looked fairly empty. Not too bad in the week but it's always horrendous at the weekend anyway

Where I am it was crazy. I went a Monday thinking it wouldn’t be too bad but it was like Saturday.

Not too bad here.

Trying to eat out is another matter but shopping is fine.