ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 TAG: 9612110009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
THERE ARE FIVE FEWER shopping days this year and holiday stress figures to be even higher than usual. Thinking ahead helps beat the blues, though.
Christmas is two weeks from today.
If you're like me, a perennial last-minute shopper, you've begun to panic thinking about: (a) dreaming up creative gift ideas for everybody on the shopping list, (b) battling all those other tardy shoppers at the mall, and (c) finding enough money in the budget to pay for said gifts - while still remaining a sane and semi-productive member of society.
Holiday-related stress has more than quadrupled since the 1950s, according to the Holmes-Rahe Scale, which measures the stressfulness of life events. And as though we needed another reason to panic: This year, we have five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
So what can we do?
Well, there are always catalogs or the Internet. Without leaving your safe - and uncrowded - home, you can order anything from chocolate-covered peanuts to reproductions of Gothic gargoyles. And many of these on-line or mail-order companies promise delivery in time for Christmas if you order by the 22nd or 23rd and are willing to pay for overnight shipping.
But if you're determined to shop in person, consider rearranging your schedule a bit to hit the stores during their off-peak periods. To me, there's nothing more frustrating - and claustrophobia-inducing - than a hot, loud store cram-packed with people. Here are tips for avoiding the biggest crowds from the people who run some of the area's shopping hot spots:
* Wal-Mart Supercenter in Roanoke: Shop very early or very late, said store manager Don DeFeo. The store typically starts to get busy around 10 a.m. every day, so if you arrive by 6 or 7 a.m. you can shop in relative peace. Or wait until the middle of the night. Weekdays, the store typically clears out by 10 or 11 p.m. Weekends, the store is busy until 1 a.m. or so, DeFeo said.
The Supercenter, which opened in January, hasn't been through a Christmas season yet, so there's no telling how packed it will get.
* Valley View Mall: Consider shopping on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, said mall manager Louise Dudley. Traffic picks up on Thursday, she said, because that's when department-store sales usually start. Or take advantage of the mall's temporarily extended hours. You can start shopping at 11 a.m. on Sundays and until 10 p.m. weekdays.
* Tanglewood Mall: If you shop first thing in the morning, when the mall opens, you're likely to avoid the biggest crowds, according to mall manager Judy Tullius. And business tapers off right before the mall closes at 9:30 p.m. (starting next week, it's open until 10 p.m.). Lunchtime is always busy, as are weekends. Tanglewood also is offering golf-cart shuttle service during peak hours, so you can hitch a ride out to your car.
* New River Valley Mall: Mondays through Wednesdays are the best days to shop, said mall manager Mike Poldiak. If you can come before 5 p.m., even better. "Once 5 hits, everybody's leaving work and heading for the mall," he said.
If you're prone to holiday stress, here are some additional tips from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the National Foundation for Depressive Illness Inc. and several holiday-stress survivors:
* Force yourself to make detailed lists. Decide, in advance, who you're shopping for, what you want to buy, where you can find those items and how much you want to spend. You may want to call the stores you plan to visit to make sure they carry the gifts you need.
* Gift certificates aren't very personal, but they might be just what you need if you're at the end of your rope.
* Leave the kids at home, if you can. If you want to spend quality time with your family, a frenzied trip to the mall is not the best opportunity.
* Don't wait to finish your shopping until the weekend before Christmas. Picture your favorite mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the very busy start of the Christmas shopping season. Now take away all that beginning-of-the-season good cheer, add a touch of last-minute panic and poof! - a stress attack waiting to happen.
* Maintain your normal sleeping, eating and exercising patterns as much as possible. Keep alcohol consumption to a minimum. It's a depressant and can compound the feeling of being overwhelmed.
* Don't be a perfectionist. Just as many things go wrong in December as they do at any other time of the year - it doesn't mean you've failed.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB