NEW YORK -- Peggy Thomas waited to do her holiday shopping until Saturday, the day before Christmas, simply because she wasn't in the mood.

"I haven't felt like it. I haven't felt like it all," Thomas said as she hunted for gifts at a Target store in Baltimore.

Thomas joined a growing number of procrastinators this holiday season who simply held off buying presents. That has created more angst for the nation's retailers, which are depending even more on the final hours before Christmas and post-holiday business to salvage the season.

The exceptions have been online shopping, sellers of consumer electronics, and luxury stores, which have continued to generate strong gains.

A longer season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a late Hanukkah and the lack of must-have items -- except for gadgets like Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, flat-screen TVs and new versions of the iPod digital music player -- all helped consumers prolong their shopping.

Meanwhile, merchants with a big presence in New York City, such as Saks Inc. and Bloomingdale's and Macy's parent, Federated Department Stores Inc., were hit by a three-day transit strike that left commuters too tired to shop.

That means merchants are finding themselves in a predicament similar to last year. Then, a surge of shopping just before and after Christmas helped retailers salvage the holiday season, but overall merchants had an unimpressive performance and some struggled to a disappointing finish.

The good news this year, analysts said, is that many retailers haven't reacted with a frenzy of bargains beyond what was in their strategy, recognizing that there is a second shopping season after Dec. 25. A number of stores such as KB Toys Inc. and Coach Inc. are offering fresh new merchandise during the post-holiday season, aimed at gift card holders.

Still, there were plenty of bargains to be found on Saturday.

"I'm hoping to catch sales, and I know the stores are open," said Lillian Frazier of Baltimore, who was shopping at a Kmart. "I know I can beat the rush hour and try to catch some bargains."

Frazier said she found deals in clothing and perfumes.

Time constraints forced Becky Hughes of Cross Lanes, W.Va., to start her Christmas shopping late this year.

"Just got a lot of stuff going on with our kids," Hughes said as she sifted through small gift boxes at a Wal-Mart in Nitro, W.Va.

At the South Park Mall in Charlotte N.C., David Hood was buying a gift card for his wife. He said that he already had given her gifts for their anniversary and her birthday this month.

"There's only so much practical, useful stuff you can get," he added.

But waiting carries big risks.

Sue Johnson of Charlotte, N.C., who was also at the South Park Mall, was having no luck hunting for Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music player for an exchange student.

"I've looked at a couple of places, Target and those places, but they're sold out," she said. "So, I'm going to the Apple store here."

The final days before Christmas and post-holiday business, boosted in part by gift card sales, have become increasingly critical for retailers. Gift card sales are not recorded on a retailers' balance sheet until the cards are redeemed.

According to BigResearch, which conducted a poll for the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend a total of $18.48 billion on gift cards this holiday season, up 6.6 percent from a year ago. But many stores and malls are seeing much bigger percentage increases.

According to Raul Vazquez, vice president of marketing for Walmart.com, the online site is seeing triple growth in sales of gift cards compared to a year ago.

According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research company, the seven-day period ended Dec. 25 accounted for 19.1 percent of holiday sales. The seven-day period ended Jan. 1 accounted for 10.3 percent.

While Christmas Eve is not a historically a big sales generator -- it was the 10th busiest shopping day a year ago -- stores believe it could be much busier this year since it falls on a Saturday.

Associated Press Writer Brian Witte in Baltimore and John Raby in Charleston, W.Va., contributed to this report.