Many happy returns keep retailers busy

The wrong size, wrong style, wrong color or simply the wrong gift altogether.

Those were some of the reasons people were returning and exchanging gifts at some of Cape Girardeau's major retailers Thursday, the day after Christmas.

But by and large, employees at store "return" desks said they hadn't been overwhelmed by merchandise returns.

Kerry Taylor of Perryville stocks up on discounted Christmas gift bags Thursday at Hobby Lobby.Jay Wolz

"It's slow compared to what it usually is like (on Dec. 26)," said Connie Mann at the Kohl's customer service counter Thursday morning. "There is usually a line backed up 25 feet right now. That would be the norm."

A co-worker, Alexius Sander, had her own theory. "I guess everyone liked what they got from Santa," she said. "Or people might be waiting until the weekend."

A few blocks away, at Walmart, store representatives said as many as 40 or 50 customers were lined up outside the store waiting for it to open Thursday morning. However, they weren't returning gifts. They were taking advantage of the store's post-Christmas holiday decorations sale.

"They were stocking up for next year," said Walmart employee Emily Prather who helps manage the store's customer service counter. As for gift returns, she said as of late Thursday morning it had been "steady," but "not that bad so far."

Wini Moran of Jackson, right, hands packages of duplicate Christmas gifts to UPS Store employee Taylor Ellison Thursday for shipment to Amazon. In the background, UPS Store employee Stormi Kershaw packs a box of returned gifts for shipment to an online retailer.Jay Wolz

Target store director Matt Gossage said gift returns Thursday were steady, but far from overwhelming. "We've had a steady flow starting when we opened at 7 this morning," he said. "And it's not just returns, but a lot of customers are bringing gift cards they want to use."

Customers were also looking for after Christmas bargains in Target's toy and Christmas decorations departments.

While the day after Christmas is one of Target's busiest days of the year, Gossage said it still doesn't compare to Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in terms of store foot traffic.

At West Park Mall, the customer service desks at anchor stores Macy's and JCPenney said gift returns and exchanges had been steady throughout the day, but rarely were there more than two or three people in line at any one time.

"There was one time this morning when we had 20 or 30 people in line," said JCPenney employee Austin Seabaugh as he worked at the merchandise return counter. Behind him were shelves of returned shoes, clothing, electronics and housewares. "Most of returns have been for size exchanges," he said.

At Macy's, customer service representative Bree Meyer said gift returns "came in waves" Thursday morning and most people were bringing merchandise back either because it was the wrong size or because they received duplicate gifts.

At Hobby Lobby, most of the checkout lanes were active all day Thursday as shoppers were buying deeply-discounted Christmas decorations, wrapping paper and artificial Christmas trees.

"We've been comfortably busy," said Elizabeth Nanney, a Hobby Lobby customer service manager.

Almost as quickly as customers emptied Hobby Lobby's shelves of Christmas merchandise, store employees refilled them with nonseasonal items.

One of the busiest places in the Town Plaza Shopping Center Thursday was the UPS store where employees Stormi Kershaw and Taylor Ellison said customers were lined up all the way to the store's front door at one point. "We thought it would be a little slower than it's been," Kershaw said. "We've had as many as 15 people in line, some with multiple packages."

Many of those packages, Ellison said, were being shipped to Amazon, the nation's largest online retailer. Approximately 80% of online holiday shoppers looked for gifts on Amazon this year.

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