Holiday shoppers pack Bangor stores

BANGOR – Santa Claus said he and his reindeer are ready to start their annual journey Tuesday night. But judging from the crowds in stores over the weekend, the man in the red suit is just about the only person who has finished shopping for Christmas.

Parking lots at the Bangor Mall and nearby stores overflowed Saturday afternoon. Traffic slowed to a crawl on Hogan Road and Stillwater Avenue, as the bravest or most foolhardy motorists made left-hand turns in their quests to check one last item off their lists or get started on their holiday shopping.

Despite national reports that consumers aren’t fulfilling retailers’ expectations, mall manager Bruce Soper described the season as “awesome.” So many people were shopping in the mall Saturday that he and other employees wore headsets so they could hear each other on their radios over the din.

“It’s been steady since mid-October,” Soper said as he surveyed the food court, “and every weekend we’ve seen an increase in traffic and sales. Today is definitely our biggest day. We’ve got gridlock in the parking lot, but people’s attitudes are better. They’re not as distressed, not as edgy as they have been in past years.”

Soper, who has headed the mall management team for three years, predicted this would be the best year for mall merchants since 1999. He added that following a national trend, gift-certificate sales had increased significantly and the new North Pole village, which includes mechanized skating polar bears, had been very popular, with more people purchasing photos of their children with Santa Claus.

Garry Levin, manager of Borders bookstore, was busy restocking fast-selling calendars and books Saturday. He said local-interest books are hot this year.

“The DeLorme ‘Fishing Depth Map,’ ‘The Diaries of Sarah Jane and Emma Ann Foster,’ and ‘The Art of Maine in Winter,’ which we’re out of, are selling really well,” he said. “The big surprise this year is ‘The Sopranos Cookbook’ and our gift-card sales are way up. They’re just flying out of here.”

Upstairs in the music and DVD department, Bangor High School’s recent performance of the musical “Les Miserables” prompted an unexpected run on the score. Borders was sold out of that item Saturday. Other popular sellers included CDs by Josh Groban and Norah Jones, plus the first installment of “The Lord of the Rings” on DVD, Robin Williams’ latest live performance and the classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

During the last few days before Christmas, many shoppers turn their attention from the mall and big-box stores to small specialty shops like Ampersand/The Store in Orono.

John Bradson predicted the final tally of Christmas sales in Maine “would surprise some people” as he boxed up freshly baked carrot cakes at the back of The Store on Saturday afternoon.

“In terms of some items, people are looking to the smaller stores closer to home,” he said. “Our wines have been selling very well because people are looking for something a little more special than what they can get at the grocery stores. … We’re busy downstairs [at Ampersand]. We’re more of a last-minute stocking-stuffer store anyway.”

Regulars and last-minute shoppers packed Bagel Central in downtown Bangor on Sunday morning. The kosher deli draws a mix of Christians, Jews and other locals who don’t observe the holiday and aren’t caught up in the last-minute Christmas shopping frenzy.

Larry Reynolds of Bangor is not one of the latter.

“Hell, no!” he answered outside the deli Sunday morning when asked if he had finished shopping for the holiday. “If you do it too early, you go into one of these guilt trips and spend way too much money and it’s not nearly as much fun. I love it, but the crowds and traffic do drive me crazy.”

Inside Bagel Central, the Pellegrini family of Holden had breakfast after attending Mass at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor. Anthony and Joan Pellegrini and their three daughters agreed they were ready and anxious for the holiday. The girls, however, weren’t interested in the “hot” toys like Rapunzel Barbie that disappeared from most store shelves the day after Thanksgiving.

Nine-year-old Adriana Pellegrini said she hadn’t asked for anything specific because she wants to be surprised Christmas morning. Her sister Amelia, 7, said she wanted white mice because “they’re cute” and 6-year-old Olivia longed for a sleigh bell worn by any of Santa’s reindeer.

The Pellegrinis planned to spend Sunday afternoon visiting friends, then performing in their church Christmas concert. Dr. Joan Pellegrini, an emergency room surgeon at Eastern Maine Medical Center who took her lunch break with her family, confessed she was most looking forward to spending two entire days off with her family.

As the girls counted on their fingers the number of days left until Wednesday, the youngest pointed out another reason for the holiday other than increased consumer spending.

“It’s baby Jesus’ birthday,” Olivia Pellegrini declared. “That’s why we have Christmas.”