Happy returns (mostly) and gift card bonanzas

Shoppers are out in force on Monday, armed with prepaid cards to buy the items gift givers forgot.

	[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
	Becky Popp, 14, of Clearwater, Janie Martinez, 14, of Largo, and Melissa Zinge, 13, of Largo, take the escalator out of Westfield Countryside mall in Clearwater after spending Monday shopping with gift cards they got for Christmas. Retailers said gift cards were popular this year.

Lured by deep discounts and armed with gift cards, bay area residents hit stores Monday for another round of holiday shopping.

Retailers put out fresh merchandise, expanded store hours and slashed prices on dozens of items to boost sales that have proved mediocre.

Customers waited longer than last year to shop, creating more angst among retailers.

Many people gave gift cards, which don't register as sales until they have been redeemed. So stores are angling to get customers to use them.

Because people with gift cards are spending newfound money, analysts don't expect them to be as concerned with price. That in mind, stores such as Coach and American Eagle Outfitters showcased some spring merchandise while KB Toys pushed new items related to the King Kong movie.

Price was not a concern to 9-year-old Shelby Brown of Tampa, who pooled her gift cash and cards Monday to purchase her long-desired $130 Nintendo DS game system and a $20 Nintendogs cartridge.

Shelby happily played in the cart while her mom pushed her around Target, looking for other deals.

After returning one gift, 19-year-old Sarah Lewis of Carrollwood was particularly appreciative of the opportunity to choose another. She used a gift card to buy a shirt and the Jurassic Park DVD trilogy.

"My mom says it's rude, but I like it," she said of the trend of giving gift cards for the holidays. "You can buy what you want instead of getting junk."

Many who turned out Monday had their eyes peeled for deals, including DVDs for $4.99 at Circuit City and coats for 60 percent off at JCPenney.

"I've got two kids and I don't work. You cut prices when you can," said Susan Newton, 32, of Temple Terrace, outside a Wal-Mart in Tampa.

She loaded up on purses and "girly gift sets" to distribute as gifts next Christmas.

The family has a dozen kids under 10, Newton said, so the low prices help.

Shoppers also made a beeline for the holiday clearance racks, where anything related to Christmas and Hanukkah went for at least half off. The shelves were quickly bare.

"We buy it at the end of the year so we can use it the next year," said Ruta Shah, 19, of Carrollwood. She bought wrapping paper and ornaments.

Batteries, video and audio cables and storage bins were popular, too.

Michael Marquardt, assistant manager of Home Depot in Pinellas Park, said his store saw a "tremendous amount of foot traffic" Monday for items gift givers forgot.

That was a priority for Carrie Thiel of Lutz as she hopped from Target to Home Depot in Carrollwood.

"Now that we have the gifts, we want to have something to put them in," Thiel said, noting her daughter Abigail's new toys needed to be put away.

Of course, there also were the inevitable returns.

Andrew Cash, 27, of Lutz, brought his son Trey's Elmo Knows Your Name doll back to Wal-Mart because, no matter how hard they tried, Elmo did not know Trey's name.

"It wouldn't download properly," Cash said. "We're getting another."

Stores were ready for that, too.

They set up special lines and had plenty of staff to take back lumps of coal.

One manager at Wal-Mart said returns were not as high as expected, and he quickly returned some of the return lines to sales checkout lanes.

Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, expects the week after Christmas will be big for retailers. But he thinks that merchants will wind up with a modest 3 percent to 3.5 percent sales increase for the November to December period.

The holiday season usually accounts for 25 percent of all general merchandise business.

Niemira expects that 20 percent of people with gift cards will redeem their cards this week. According to a survey by Accenture, 44 percent of shoppers polled said they spend their gift cards within a month of receiving them. And more than half said they will spend more than the value of the card.

At Borders Books and Music in Clearwater, that was the case, general manager Dan Noah said.

"That's one of the perks. They get two or three other items along with it," Noah said, noting the store had heavy volume in gift card sales.

He figured the gift card boom tied directly to the low incidence of returns.

"People were smart," Noah said.

There's motivation to spend it soon.

While many stores have gotten rid of restrictions on when shoppers can use the cards, consumers still face fees and expiration dates for some, particularly for gift cards issued through national banks .

--Times staff writers Scott Barancik and Graham Brink contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press. Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

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