After-Christmas crush hits Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville

The bag-toting, bargain-seeking shoppers were back Thursday.

They were back to pursue and purchase and get pooped out, like one-year-old Kinslee Scott, who was fast asleep inside a shopping cart at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville.

And they were back for the sales.

"Actually, I was able to get 80 percent off at New York and Compnay,” shopper Sonya Brown said.

It turns out that Christmas Day was merely a day off from the Christmas crus, and retailers relished the crowds. Analysts say sales at stores for the week ending Dec. 22 were 3 percent lower than the same week last year.

But a look at crowded Cross Creek Mall on Thursday seems (seemed) to contradict those numbers.

While many shoppers were returning and exchanging, some were still doing their Christmas shopping – for next year.

Cynthia Gregory picked out some candles to give her stepmother for Christmas 2014.

“Oh God, I’m not supposed to tell that,” she said with a laugh.

Rachelle Boone was at the mall to return a few items that didn’t fit. “Too big,” she said.

And some shoppers were simply spending their holiday green. Eleven-year-old MacKenzie Bemister said she got everything she wanted for Christmas, but she still wants more.