Last-minute rush for holiday dinner shoppers

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In South Philadelphia, one supermarket is always busy, attracting folks from Queen Village to Oregon Avenue.

But on Christmas Eve it's a madhouse as shoppers mark off their list of fixins' for the Christmas dinner celebration, today and tomorrow.

"I am cooking Christmas dinner, macaroni pie, the turkey, the ham, the whole works," said Cheryl Gant of South Philadelphia. "Normally if I was home in Trinidad, my sister, all of us get together and we cook."

"We're buying his roast beef and I'm making a fruit salad, dessert stuff and some presents," said shopper Annie Stanfield-Hagert.

Despite the soothing Christmas music, hectic is how one Reading Terminal merchant described Thursday in Center City where those who have finished their gift shopping buy the necessities for their traditional yuletide meals with large gatherings of family and friends.

For many, shopping at select stores is an old tradition with touches they believe can't be completed through a modern supermarket.

"It's hectic, it's probably the second or third busiest day of the year," said butcher Robert Passio. "Plenty of orders. They call like a week in advance, sometimes a day in advance, but it's all right, we'll get it done."

Vernon Odom has the full report.