Locals join the after-Xmas rush

Locals join the after-Xmas rush
By Wade H Leonard
December 26, 2008

RadioShack

J.W. Davidson, 92, sat in Leigh Mall early in the morning the day after Christmas — swapping stories with a friend and waiting patiently for Radio Shack to open.

“I got a gift card burning a hole in my pocket,” he said.

Davidson wasn’t the only in Leigh Mall this morning; many of the mall’s stores were packed with shoppers who were looking for huge sales, returning gifts or cashing in gift cards.

At least one shopper, however, was just beginning her Christmas shopping. And while it might seem a little late, Brenda Spotts, who works in the custodial department of Caledonia Elementary School, is getting ready for her family’s untraditional celebration of the holidays.

“We haven’t had our Christmas yet,” she said. “We’re waiting on my grandson to come back from Wisconsin. We’re going to do Christmas on New Year’s this year.”
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Spotts, like several other shoppers, was on the hunt for typical Christmas fare — clothes, shoes and toys.

“We’re buying all the specials,” she said. “We’ve got clothes, cologne, toys and shoes. We do all our shopping after Christmas.”

As Christmas shoppers meandered the mall, the man most associated with the commercial side of Christmas — jolly old St. Nick — had a representative breaking down the set where he’s been greeting children and finding out what they wanted for Christmas.

Anthony Norwood, the set manager for Leigh Mall’s Santa Claus attraction, felt bittersweet as he packed up Santa’s throne.

“It’s interesting. You get used to all the employees who are there for the four weeks we’re set up,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also hard when you have a bunch of crying kids running around.”

As Santa’s accouterments are packed away until next year, across the building JC Penny looks the way it did during what is supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year — the day after Thanksgiving.

“We opened up at 5:30 this morning with an after-Christmas sale,” said store manager Mike Law. “We’ve had quite a few people here, and it’s been steady all morning. It used to be a big return day, and it still is, but we’ve turned it into a big sale day because with the gift cards, customers come to cash those in. It’s been much better, actually, than last year. It’s just way ahead of last year.”

One such customer, Tonya Gillespie, is a frequent JC Penny shopper. As of 9:30 a.m. she had been shopping in the store non-stop since they opened — four full hours of JC Penny.

“You have a lot of good buys, good sales,” she said. “You get to catch a lot of things you might need for next year.”