"We kick off our extended trading hours from Saturday and Sunday but feedback from staff over the last weekend is that the customer services desk has been busy with people buying gift cards so Christmas has started," she said.
"It just shifts up a gear and you can feel it."
Westfield has also extended its opening hours in the lead up to Christmas with Saint Lukes and Manukau City open until midnight on several evenings.
With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, McGhie said the company was expecting record shoppers in a last minute rush on Saturday.
"We haven't done midnight in those two centres for quite some time but there seems to be a demand for it so we've chosen to go those three nights in that last week running up to Christmas eve," McGhie said.
"With Christmas falling on the weekend it always shifts things because people have that extra Saturday if they haven't gone away, especially for people who leave it to the last minute," she said.
"That's one of the reasons why we do extend the trading hours is to get people to come in to do that later in the evenings."
Shoppers were being encouraged to get in earlier to avoid the last minute rush, with weekends being particularly busy.
Santa may be in residence and it's not just children getting photos with Mister Claus. Westfield is offering a unique service at St Lukes where people can get photos of their dogs with Santa.
Shoppers needed to book in advance and the event, which was held last week as well, has been extremely popular.
At Westfield Newmarket, children could visit Santa's Grotto - a walk through the pathway leading to his house, seeing reindeer and elves at work.
Additional customer service and car parking teams would also be on hand to help with the Christmas shopping period.
