A manageable morning after

Unlike the day after Thanksgiving, all was calm for shoppers on the day after Christmas.

No fistfights were reported in Spokane, nobody was trampled, and no one lined up before dawn to ransack sales racks.

By midmorning Monday, shoppers were only trickling into the Wal-Mart at Shadle Center. “Maybe they had too much to eat last night,” said assistant store manager Bryan, who didn’t want his last name used. He said he was surprised by how quiet it was, and expected larger crowds later in the day.

At Piece of Mind, a North Side smoking accessory shop, salesman Russell Taft wasn’t worried about an early morning rush. That’s partly because the store didn’t open until 10 a.m. and partly, Taft said, because most of his customers don’t get up very early. Taft, who wished his clientele “hippy holidays and a smokin’ New Year,” said that “no one brings anything back. All our customers are very happy about their purchases.”

They’d better be. There’s a big sign on the store wall: “No refunds, no exchanges and no crying.”

At Victoria’s Secret in NorthTown Mall, buyers may have been thrilled with their purchases, but some recipients were less so.

Sales associate Jamie Reese said she was expecting a steady stream of women returning presents from hopeful husbands and boyfriends. The main problem, Reese said, is that men almost always buy lingerie in a size small, no matter the actual size of their significant other.

“I ask them about what size and they always say ‘about your size,’ but they aren’t,” said Reese, who can best be described as willowy.

Women’s other top complaints are that the apparel is “too lacy,” or the fabric is uncomfortable, Reese said.

Gifts from the store’s Sexy Little Things department are returned with the comment, ” ‘There’s no way I’m wearing that,’ ” said Reese.

Julie Hartman and her daughter Annie had nothing to return Monday at NorthTown, but something to spend: Gift cards they’d received for Christmas. “We wanted to get here while the selection was still good,” said Hartman.

The National Retail Federation says consumers will spend about $18 billion this holiday season on gift cards, up 6.6 percent from a year ago.

Michael P. Niemira of the International Council of Shopping Centers believes merchants will wind up with a modest 3 percent to 3.5 percent sales increase for the November-December period. But if more shoppers than expected redeem gift cards this week, that could boost December sales by three-quarters of a percent, he said.

According to a survey by Accenture, 44 percent of shoppers said they spend their gift cards within a month of getting them. And, more importantly for merchants, more than half said they will spend more than the value of the card.

Gift cards are a good option for the hard-to-buy-for, but not that necessary for those clear about their desires. In the Northwest, that can mean two things – guns or cars, both of which are rarely returned.

With guns, “people know what they’re buying ahead of time,” said Laura, a clerk at the General Store on North Division who didn’t want her last name used. And even if the gun turns out to be the wrong caliber or color – blued vs. stainless, for example – a return involves a lot of paperwork. “It’s not like exchanging a sweater,” she said.

Another surefire gift is a luxury car, according to John Guiberson, a salesman at Downtown Lexus. While a man may buy lingerie for a woman out of optimism, he puts a lot more thought into plunking down big bucks for a car.

“A lot of times they’ve done their shopping ahead of time,” Guiberson said.

“Maybe a month later he’ll pick it up and she doesn’t know at the time she’s getting it but she’s already told him what she wants. … Cars don’t come back,” he said.