Consumers are advised to beat the back to school rush by preparing and buying necessities while there is still time, sizes and range available.
A day before schools re-opened, retailers at Jabulani Mall had to deal with the stress of a substantial customer influx doing their last minute back to school shopping.
Some of the shops that were hit hardest included Pep store, Ackermans, Game and Shoprite.
In some worse cases such as at Shoprite and Pep store, lines were so long that they start in department sections of the store.
Store managers say the rush was like the festive season all over again, resulting in more work for stores.
Tumi Madigoe is the manager of Pep store at the mall and he said that the large number of people doing late shopping causes problems from the store point of view.
“The biggest problem we experienced in our clothing range is the shortage of sizes and that caused customers to either return items or go looking for items in different stores.
“The best way customers can avoid last minute stress is to buy whatever they are able to buy while there is still time, so one can include uniforms, food and basic stationery in their festive shopping,” Madigoe said.
