Shoppers get early start

<p>The season of giving can get a little rough when your kid's birthday is just days after Christmas.</p><p>Fortunately, there are the after Christmas sales, said Angie Moberly, a Windsor mom who spent part of Saturday shopping at J.C. Penney in Coddingtown Mall.</p><p>“Do you love these? They go with your hat,” Moberly asked, holding up a pair of cheetah-print pants for her daughter Emily, who turns 7 on Monday.</p><p>Emily was searching for a birthday outfit while her sister Samantha, 8, did a little bit of shopping herself.</p><p>“We are just looking for some good deals,” Moberly said. “It's low stress, no pressure, just having fun with the girls.”</p><p>Susana Aparicio of Santa Rosa said she returned to Penney's to exchange some sweaters that didn't fit, as well as to buy some clothes for her son and his cousin. She found a long-sleeve blue and white polo shirt that had been marked down from $15.99 to $4.99.</p><p>Aparicio said this year, because her husband's work hours and pay had been reduced, there was less money to spend during the holiday season. Looking for such sales becomes more essential, she said.</p><p>It's a trend retailers understand.</p><p>Mike Simmons, Penney's store manager, said the retail giant has narrowed its inventory of goods over last year, focusing on basic items such as sweaters and outerwear instead of higher-end items such as guitars and telescopes.</p><p>“We are having an uptick for the holiday season, a sales gain from last year," Simmons said. "It's considerably better than what we forecast and even better than last year.”</p><p>For the day after Christmas this year, J.C. Penney opened its doors at 5 a.m., an hour earlier than usual. Simmons said about dozen hard-core shoppers were waiting to take advantage of more than 100 “door buster” sales.</p><p>As gray skies appeared on the horizon, more and more shoppers came through the doors, he said. Very few were returning items received for Christmas.</p><p>“By 7 a.m. we actually only had a couple returns. They were here buying," Simmons said, adding that customers were buying up everything, especially Christmas decorations, which were marked down 60 to 75 percent.</p><p>Another retailer offering post-Christmas sales is Walmart, which features deals each day from Dec. 26 to New Year's Day. It will give out a $50 Walmart gift card with an Xbox 360 purchase, offer an eMachine netbook for $228 and offer some home holiday items and toys at up to 50 percent off.</p><p>Walmart also will extend previously announced holiday deals including some Blu-ray movies for under $20.</p><p>Some stores are likely to tighten return policies as a way of fighting return fraud, which is expected to cost the retail industry an estimated $2.7 billion this holiday season and an estimated $9.6 billion this year, according to a National Retail Federation survey.</p><p>Target usually allows customers to return items within 90 days of purchase, However, the company will accept returns on purchases made during the holiday season for up to 12 months. Target limits and periodically adjusts the monetary amount of the total purchases returned. This year it stands at items totaling less than $70, but that amount has ranged from $20 to $100 in the past few years.</p><p>Sears has extended its time period slightly for holiday returns, said Tom Aiello, a spokesman for Sears Corporate Holdings. The store will accept items purchased between Nov. 14 to Dec. 13 for up to 120 days. But home electronics and mattresses will have to be returned within 60 days.</p><p>Just outside Coddingtown Mall, Lorie Albrecht of Santa Rosa took a break from her post-Christmas shopping. Albrecht, who had redeemed a gift certificate from Old Navy, said she was not returning anything.</p><p>“I was happy with everything that I got, I was pretty lucky,” she said.</p><p>The Associated Press and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.</p>