Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While the current blizzard affecting Western New York may have several businesses closed across the region through the rest of the holiday weekend, the forecast earlier in the week helped prompt many people to get out to their local malls and other shops and wrap up their Christmas shopping before the big day on Sunday.
"We've got a lot of last-minute shopping to do," said local shopper Sam from Amherst, who was at the Boulevard Mall. "Luckily, the mall's still open here for us, and they've got about everything you need over here."
"A bit crazy, I'm not gonna lie," added shopper Morgan from Hamburg out at the McKinley Mall on Wednesday. "I waited 'til the last minute, and so it's been crazy. But I'm almost done, finishing up the last [needs] today."
As the holiday draws closer and closer, it seems like many shoppers were out-and-about finding those final gifts for those toughest to shop for every holiday season.
For some shoppers, it's finding those gifts for friends that may be the toughest task, but for many, it's the ones closest to them like siblings or parents.
"Mine is my mom, because she goes and gets everything for herself, and then there's nothing left for us to get for her," Sam admitted.
"My dad, because every time I ask him, he says, 'I don't want anything. I don't want anything,'" Morgan added.
"Right now, it's my sister. I don't know what she likes," said shopper Drew from Niagara Falls at the Boulevard Mall.
As for what were the most popular items on the shopping list for those at the malls, it certainly varied from shopper to shopper.
"It's more just clothes, and just more symbolic things, things that just incapsulate the year as a whole, and just things they might have been looking for, maybe spoken about earlier on," said shopper Will from Buffalo at the Boulevard Mall. "It all pretty much came together, and as I see them, I normally get it right there in the spot."
"I usually try to do a lot of gift cards, but this year I kind of want to do it from the heart and actually get gifts this year," Drew added. "So scratching the gift card idea this year, and going all-in."
"I do like finding something unique and handmade, something that somebody put a little extra love in when they made it," Sam said.
And what's a Buffalo Christmas without shopping for some Bills gear?
"A lot of Bills things," Morgan said. "A lot of my family members are very invested in the Bills, so I've been going that direction to get gifts."
While the forecast for the blizzard impacting Buffalo and other parts of Western New York didn't come into better view until later in the week, certainly the phrase "flash freeze" and hearing of extremely windy conditions got shoppers out to finish up their final shopping needs.
"I was planning on kind of going each day, getting little things each day, but with the storm possibly coming up, I decided to get everything done before any of that happens to come through," Morgan said.
"Definitely concerned about the weather," Drew said of the forecast. "I have today and tomorrow, because they're saying stay in as a Friday until Monday. So I have today and tomorrow to finish everything else."
As for Will, who was planning on heading to Chicago to take in Saturday afternoon's Bills game against the Bears at Soldier Field, he needed to also head to the store to get any last-minute needs for what the elements were going to bring for the game.
"I'm expecting on leaving Friday to head out to Chicago, but with a storm coming in, I moved things up to Thursday, so now it's last-minute looking for some gloves," Will said. "I think I heard that Chicago doesn't allow the electronic warming devices inside the stadium, so balaclava and gloves, and just making sure I'm good to go since I can't rely on battery power."