After Christmas Shoppers Hit The Stores

(SAVANNAH, GA)
It may be a long holiday weekend - but that doesn't mean everyone's sleeping in...shoppers were out at area stores and malls bright and early Saturday morning looking for post-holiday bargains. Retailers and shoppers had plenty of reason to be merry.

Even in the pre-dawn hours Saturday - busy shoppers could be found scurrying into and out of the stores...some with specific shopping goals in mind...others, like Cathy Keith, just to see what's out there, “Sometimes it's the people - I like to see the people and sometimes you know, it's the bargains you know - you just don't know what you're gonna find until you get out there.” What shoppers found was plenty of bargains to be had. Carol Bernard says she'd had her eye on a pair of boots for weeks - so did a little shopping for herself at a steep discount...but routinely uses the post-holiday sales as a way to get a jumpstart on a good percentage of next year's shopping, “I try to get started on next Christmas at the after-Christmas sales - so I don't know, maybe like 25-percent - if I can get the good sales I’ll do it.” And retailers themselves count on the bargains to lure in enough shoppers to boost numbers at year's end - as well as tempt those with gift cards to go ahead and use them. “We count on after-Christmas sales a lot - the gift cards are very important to us and the day after - a couple of days after Christmas are very big - just as big as the days before Christmas believe it our not - so it is very important,” says Tom Duff, J.C. Penney Store Manager.

Very important and serious business to the biggest bargain shoppers. News Three spoke to two ladies who got up at three Saturday morning to drive from Jesup and hit the mall. Delores Phillips and Melissa Campbell said it was just the first of many planned stops, “Anything - that's where we can get a deal - so we'll probably get home, probably about as many stores as possible - might get home before dark.” Likely with plenty of bargains in hand. Retailers have good reason to put emphasis on those after-Christmas sales - last year, the week after Christmas accounted for about 15 percent of holiday sales, according to Shoppertrak.