Kate Caldwell said she was usually the most organised person in her family, but this year due to work commitments she had left things later than usual.
Shops had been busy, although less than she had expected, possibly due to rainy weather earlier in the day.
It had not been as stressful as she thought it would be, but she was still racing against the clock to get all her shopping finished by the end of the day.
She still had to buy presents for her brother, father, stepfather and grandmother, Ms Caldwell said.
Another shopper described Dunedin’s centre city malls as being "like a mosh pit", with big queues at many stores.
It had been a very strong last couple of weeks, he said.
The Dunedin store was on a par with last year, but across the country, things were a bit up on 2021, Mr Thomson said.
George St retailer Brent Weatherall said things were pretty busy and his store was full of shoppers, although it was not the most busy Christmas he had seen, which he described as "a sign of the times".
In the meantime, things were "definitely quite vibrant" and sales were evenly spread across the board, with no item categories standing out as top sellers, Mr Weatherall said.
He would not know the sales figures until the end of the month but it was likely there would be more spending after Christmas.
His message for last minute shoppers looking for the perfect gift was simple: "They’re running out of time — so they’d better hurry up."
