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While it wasn’t a record-breaking year for CrossIron Mills mall, there was still plenty of people crowding the corridors on Dec. 26 looking for Boxing Day deals.
“It was a mad house,” said Wendy Missel, assistant manager at Forever Toys, located inside the 1.4 million-square-foot shopping centre.
She said it took her about 20 minutes to leave the parking lot and noted a lot of people used the parking lot at Lowes, located about a block away, while still others made their own parking pads using open grass and hills as options.
Airdrie shopper David Jensen said he doesn’t typically choose the mall for shopping but went with a friend to check out a couple of stores on Boxing Day.
“When I drove in, it was ridiculous and when I left it was worse,” he said of the crowds in the parking lot.
It also took him close to 20 minutes waiting in line to get into the lot and find a spot.
Mall administration records show 73,204 people came through the doors, down slightly from last year’s 74,168. This was the first time since the doors opened in 2009 the mall didn’t break attendance numbers for Dec. 26.
In 2009, 52,653 people arrived and the following year it jumped to 67,262.
Part of the reason for the decrease could be shoppers purposely avoiding stepping foot in the building on such a crowded day.
“We chose today because we knew it would be less busy than the 26th,” said Debbie Dubeau on Dec. 27.
Dubeau and her husband, both of Calgary, and their son, who was visiting from east of Edmonton, travelled to the mall.
She said her son was looking for a particular gift and knew they would likely find it at the super mall, which has more than 200 stores.
Airdrie resident Ty Bryska said when he saw traffic backed up on Highway 2 coming from Calgary trying to turn off to the mall on Boxing Day, he knew it was a good idea to lay low until the next day.
Despite the decrease of just less than 1,000 people through the doors, Assistant Manager Kassandra Becker from LUSH, a handmade cosmetic store, said it tripled what it made last year.
She said 900 people went through the store’s doors on Dec. 26. An average weekend day sees 500 to 600 customers while an average weekday sees 200 to 300, she added.
“It was an extremely busy day,” said Becker. “It was like a sanctuary in here though,” she said explaining that most shoppers were in high spirits.
“Outside though in the mall — woah,” she said pausing.
“It was thick. You couldn’t move in places.”
Delveen Ahmat, manager for Urban Planet, said 1,905 purchases were rang through the tills. She said she couldn’t release total sale numbers for the day but they were on par with last year’s sales.
“I heard it was one of the busiest malls in Alberta,” she said.
