Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Christmas traffic on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew.

Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter

Music compact discs (cds), cellphones and the proverbial shirt and socks were among the most sought-after items for shoppers who crowded corporate area shopping malls yesterday, in search of the perfect gifts for their loved ones this Christmas.

The Constant Spring Road shopping strip in St. Andrew was jam-packed with zealous shoppers from very early yesterday morning. Store owners were out equally early in anticipation, and the shoppers kept them busy throughout the day. Traffic pile-ups and parking woes were again high on the shoppers' lists of things to complain about and drove many potential spenders away in disgust. "Look yah man, mi cannot drive nuh more. Every year is the same thing. This haffi go wait!' one woman shouted to the passengers piled up in her blue SUV as she drove off.

Festive season

Cellphone dealers seemed to have been enjoying a huge chunk of the business generated by the festive season. Yvonne Lawrence, a 38-year-old mother of four walked out of a phone store in Tropical Plaza with four large bags clutched under her arms.

"Yes, well it's Christmas and the phones are all the kids seem to want these days. I decided to be nice this year and treat them all. They'll be very surprised because I normally complain that they spend too much time on the phone," she said, chuckling.

Christmas trees and decorations were also being grabbed up and streetside entrepreneurs were out in large numbers offering hand-made toys, bootleg cds and cellphone cases to the hundreds of shoppers.

It was too early for store owners to figure out how sales were going compared to last year, but most were hopeful that their profits would pick up as Christmas draws even closer.