That's a good tip- i.e. the local streets, Shell. My son lives near a big shopping centre near me, so I can park at his place when it's busy but have to be careful not to buy kgs and kgs of supplies
I often get caught struggling across the road with litres of milk and other heavy stuff. It's come in handy for those quick visits or just to go and have coffee with my son.
At
the shops that I used to go to for their BIG stores, all the employees have to park across the road at the high school in December. I reckon that's great- there's nothing worse than getting to the shops pretty early, only to find that the employees have hogged all the carparks within a km.

Especially when it's raining and you have little kids. Times have changed, though, and the carparks all have those dumb "mothers with prams" signs. I call them "dumb" 'cos I'm jealous they didn't have them when I needed them.

I had to take my kids out with me everywhere because hubby worked away and I had no choice. Mostly, though, I went in early, picked up things quickly, then got out before the crowds came and before the baby/toddler needed to be in bed. The most difficult time was when I had one child sleeping at 10 and 2, and a second child needing a 12 noon nap, plus school kids needing to be dropped off at 8.30 and picked up at 3....
Christmas shopping was hard when I had kids that were 2-4 years old and not at school. I would distract them and hide stuff under bags in my trolley, then ask the checkout lady if we could sneak it through without the child noticing. I'd be 'Oh, can you go and grab me one of those bags from that checkout?' or 'can you hold this and wait over there for a minute?' If the kids saw me buying presents, you could bet the intended recipient would find out as soon as they got home from school.
One of the sneakiest things I did was to point out a merry-go-round in the gift shop to the shop assistant, paying for it at the counter, then walking out while she wrapped it. I went back and picked it up after she'd finished.

People enjoy being part of pulling the wool over kids' eyes, don't they?