‘Mine eyes’ have seen the shopping

It’s pretty much understood that we all see the world through a limited prism — usually within our own field of vision.

So it is with that in mind that I must report, based on what I witnessed this past Saturday, that the 2009 Christmas shopping season is doing quite well. I can’t help but believe it could have been a whole lot worse, given what the nation faced during the 2008 holiday.

I spent a couple of hours ringing a bell while manning a donation bucket for the Salvation Army. I was camped at the south entrance to the JCPenny store at Westgate Mall. It was a lovely afternoon — although it was a bit windy. Imagine that — wind in the Panhandle.

During the course of my two-hour stint, I witnessed a lot of bulging shopping bags leaving the store. People would come in empty-handed, but would leave loaded down with goodies for their grandbabies.

I don’t have specific data to prove my belief, but my eyes didn’t play tricks on me. I saw a lot of merchandise hanging from shoppers’ hands on that day. Perhaps there was some pent-up enthusiasm, given that we’d just come out of a period of prolonged freezing weather.

Whatever it was, it has to bode well for Westgate Mall retailers, and perhaps for business owners all across Amarillo and the Panhandle.