By JONA ISON
Gazette Staff Writer

The retail chaos continued Wednesday as shoppers crowded stores again to return gifts and redeem gift cards.

hhgregg was gearing up for the day early, expecting to see another busy day.

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“Before Christmas, we already had some returns,” said general manager Paul Dyer. “We expect (Wednesday) will be a big return day.”

The top reason at hhgregg is duplicate gifts and, on occasion, someone looking to get an appliance that does something a little more than the one they received, Dyer said. Since navigation system sales were through the roof, Dyer said he expects to see many returned due to duplication, as well as digital photo frames which were another big hit.Although the annual National Retail Federation gift card survey forecasted gift card sales to be $26.3 billion for the holiday season, nearly $2 billion more than 2006, Dyer said customers at hhgregg didn’t purchase many of their gift cards - which featured one that was half the size of a sheet of paper.

“The majority of our customers are buying product,” he said.

However, Sears and Kmart, both owned by Sears Holding Corp., have been following the retail trend primarily because the gift cards are no longer just available at those stores, said Kirsten Whipple, a spokeswoman for Sears Holding Corp. Gift cards for several venues are available for purchase online as well as at other places such as grocery stores.

In the midwest, the National Retail Federation survey indicated more than 80 percent of those polled intended to purchase at least one gift card with the average purchase intention at about 4 with each card averaging $40.

As more and more people are able to select their own gifts, Elder-Beerman store manager Dave Thompson reported a decline in returns over the last few years due to the increase in giving gift cards instead of items.

“We’ve had quite a few (redeemed) today and sold quite a few today,” Thompson said.

Fewer returns also helps the store, he added, because that means fewer damaged items and less time spent on repackaging and re-hanging merchandise.

“It’s also less disappointment to the customer,” Thompson said.

Whipple wasn’t sure about the increase in gift card purchases and its impact on store returns at Kmart and Sears.

“I don’t know if that meant fewer returns. I’m guessing it hasn’t because the full-line stores are still selling quite a bit of apparel,” Whipple said.

Improper fitting clothing is the top return, she added, as well as games which may have been duplicated.

Not all stores were bombarded Wednesday. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet was having a normal day with few returns, said assistant manager Shelli Caruthers. While the store sold gift cards, Caruthers said she doesn’t have a way to track how many they sold this season, the store’s first holiday in Chillicothe.

According to the retail federation, retailers do not count a gift card as a sale when it is purchased but instead wait until it is redeemed for merchandise. Subsequently, holiday sales will continue to trickle into retailers’ pockets over the next few months.