Fewer day-after returns

Lines are expected all week at retailers.

By ALISON KEMP

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — The day after Christmas is the day of all days for returns.

People want gifts they want, rather than gifts they don’t want — and they want them fast.

Alan Vratkovich, a customer assistant specialist at Best Buy in Boardman, said there was a line outside the store when it opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

But the day started slow, he said.

Increased gift card sales could be the reason for fewer returns. Gift cards allow the gift receivers to buy what they want, Vratkovich said.

Exchanges have mostly been “a lot of little things,” he said.

The line was moving at Best Buy, and customers weren’t unhappy, even though the customer service queue was full.

Burt Butcher of Boardman was there to exchange some photo paper. The wait was just over 10 minutes, which is nowhere near his worst wait of almost an hour at the mall.

Pete Iudiciani of Lowellville said he had only one return to make, which was to exchange “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” or a high-definition version of the film.

Usually he does not shop the day after Christmas, he said. But this year he was not working, so he came himself, as opposed to asking his parents.

“This isn’t bad,” he said. “I haven’t been [waiting] too long.”

Traffic on U.S. Route 224 was not any worse than usual, even though parking lots appeared to be fuller.

Vratkovich expects the rest of the week to be busy, because some people avoid the day after Christmas.

Others, he said, will keep checking back for items they want that are out of stock, such as the Nintendo Wii and the Rock Band and Guitar Hero video games.

akemp@vindy.com