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Retailers ready for returns
Merchants brace for gift cards, exchanges
Retail WEB 1
Local retailers such as Old Navy, above, are expecting the rest of the week to be busy with returns and gift card purchases. - photo by Autumn Vetter
While some people may still be trying to recover from all their Christmas shopping, retailers are ready for the flood of holiday gift returns this week. The National Retail Federation is predicting this year’s holiday sales will surpass those in 2011 by more than 4 percent.And all those nicely wrapped presents under the tree Tuesday likely will lead to plenty of returns today and beyond.Kelly Freese, manager of Belk in Lakeland Plaza, and Antwon Bloxson, merchandising manager of Old Navy on Market Place Boulevard, said returns represent most of the store’s business the days after the 25th.“That’s the No. 1 driver for the day after Christmas,” Freese said.