Bend shoppers hit stores for post-Christmas returns, exchanges
Day after Christmas is one of the busiest days of the year for returns
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- ‘Tis the season to give -- and to give back. Holiday shoppers in Bend flocked to the stores Thursday, many with items that either did not fit, were not useful to them or were simply not what they wanted.
A study by Oracle, an online retail company, shows 77% of people planned to return some of the gifts they received, while 20% said they would return more than half of their gifts.
So while many shoppers were on hand with gift cards to redeem or seeking out after-Christmas sale bargains, others were there indeed to return items.
NewsChannel 21 wanted to find out how many people in Bend were headed straight for the return counter and why they wanted to return their holiday gifts.
A mother of two children came to Target with a cardboard box of items. She said the count of items was not evenly split for both children, so she knew it was going to be a big issue.
“Well, this Santa decided she had too many presents to give, so we just needed to return it,” she said. “I needed to get out of the house and away from the kids!”
A man at Walmart said he wanted to exchange a gift he had gotten himself for Christmas.
“I bought myself a pair of Wranglers for Christmas, and I didn’t try it on,” he said. “I had some errands to run today, and I thought ‘Well, let’s swing by Walmart and see how busy it is’ -- and as soon as I pull in, there’s a parking spot. So I thought, ‘That’s not too bad.’”
Other customers who preferred not to be interviewed on camera said they would re-gift an item to someone else, rather than return it to the store. Some customers said they stopped trying to return gifts after Christmas because store return policies have become more strict.
Every retail and online store has its own policy when it comes to returns and exchanges, so be sure to check out the fine print before you head to the store.
