An unidentified man, calling himself a "Christmas angel," spreads monetary cheer among a town's shoppers

WILLMAR, Minnesota (CNN) -- The stores in the town of Willmar are abuzz with more than the frenzy over Furby toys.

Shoppers are talking about a mysterious "Christmas angel," a tuxedo-clad man with a top hat, mirrored sunglasses and a scraggly beard, who pulls up to stores in a white limousine, doles out cash and then vanishes.

"He was tall, dark, handsome," said Gert Carlson, a clerk at Herbergers department store, who saw the angel. "I thought it was somebody getting married to begin with, because he was dressed all in white, and he had white gloves."

The angel noticed a mother preparing to buy a coat for her daughter at Herbergers, and he paid for it before leaving the store.

"The mother commented that her daughter didn't believe in angels but after this incident, she believes in angels now," said store manager Gordy Linblad.

A store employee describes the "angel"

"He said he wanted to spread the idea of giving, and the woman said, 'I will do that,'" Linblad recalled.

The angel was later spotted at the Cashwise grocery store, where he paid for a woman's cart-load of food.

"That lady just gave him the biggest hug," cashier Judy Griffith said.

At the cinema, the mysterious man bought tickets for a crowd of movie-goers. He then moved on to the Kmart, where he walked up to people at random with wads of $250 in cash to make their Christmas shopping a little more joyous.

"When you give something to somebody, it generally does come back to you," Carlson reflected. "I think that's what Christmas is all about."

CNN-affiliate WCCO contributed to this report.