Since many were without power or heat, shoppers from across the state flocked to the Mall at Rockingham Park to finish up their Christmas shopping and to escape dark, cold homes over the weekend.

“It’s a welcome distraction and it gives us an opportunity to tighten up some of the last-minute stuff,” said Leo Hudon, who by Saturday, Dec. 13, had been without power since Thursday’s ice storm. “We’re without heat .... It’s starting to get a little cold (in the house), but we’re fortunate compared to a lot of other people who have property damage and are without the conveniences that we have.”

With parking spots hard to come by, throngs of shoppers packed into retailers from one end of the two-story mall to the other, enjoying the warmth and the electricity.

“We came to get some heat, see some lights,” said Jeff Di- Russo, an occasional mall shopper from nearby Pelham, where much of the power remained out over the weekend. “It seems like there are more people. A lot more people are walking around, trying to keep warm and not think about the obvious.”

While the lights were on at the Mall at Rockingham Park two days after the ice storm, about half of Salem remained without power, prompting public safety officials to open a local shelter at the Salem High School for those seeking refuge from the cold and the dark.

Fire Marshal Jeffrey Emanuelson said the town’s emergency operations center had been operating since the storm ended, directing residents to the shelter with reverse 911 calls, portable message boards placed throughout the community and going door to door.

Neighboring communities did not fare much better. Hampstead resident Kathi Russman said she had come to the mall to put in an order for a generator at Sears.

“My house is freezing,” Russman said, though she expected to tough it out for another night before she could pick up her generator.

“It’s pretty cold, but we’ve got a fireplace and a grill,” she said.

Russman said she was surprised at the amount of shoppers at the mall, describing the retail mecca as “usually dead” and attributed the turnout to the holiday shopping season and because so many remained without power.

Though he had power, Manchester resident Donald Jasirdanies said the drive south to the mall was a “pretty hectic” one. Looking out over a gold-colored railing onto the first floor of the mall, he noted the unusual amount of shoppers, believing most of them to have sought out some shelter while they waited for the restoration of heat and electricity in their homes.

“They’re here,” he said. “I don’t know if they’ll spend or not, though.”