Returning Christmas Gifts : The Day After: It’s Take-It-Back Time

Twenty-seven-year-old Marie Lampone waited patiently as the “Gift Return” line moved slowly toward the clerk.

Although the hundreds of shoppers in the Mission Valley Shopping Center pushed their way around her, it didn’t matter much to Lampone. She came with a mission in mind.

“I’m returning two Rugby shirts because my boyfriend doesn’t like them,” she said. “He wanted a specific brand.

“Just like little kids have to have their Cabbage Patch Dolls, big kids have to have their Gant shirts,” she said, trying to explain her boyfriend’s finicky behavior.

John Ruess, 21, who did his trading in at the Fashion Valley Shopping Center, said bluntly, “It looks like a potato sack,” holding up the white-pullover sweater that his mother gave him. “It looks baggy and I don’t like it.”

It didn’t matter who bought it, or where it came from--if San Diego shoppers didn’t like it, it was sure to get returned. Watches that were too big and underwear that was too small were just a few of the items returned on the day after Christmas.

At Oshman’s Sporting Goods in the Mission Valley Shopping Center, one of the employees said, “It’s been non-stop since we’ve opened.” The employee said that 45 separate items of clothing had been returned in a matter of hours.

Kim Olsen, 14, said that she had to bend the truth a little before her mother would allow her to return some of her Christmas clothing.

“The sweater was too big and the shirt was sort of ugly,” she said. “So I told my mother that the shirt was too big and she believed me.”

Elaine Eisner, 25, of La Jolla said that she came to May Co. to return the “granny nightgown and the flannel underwear” that her husband had purchased for her.

But she quickly added that she only did it because “one of the items didn’t fit.” She said that the gifts were “pretty nice.”

Mary Willmont, 50, who was shopping at the Fashion Valley Shopping Center, said, “I didn’t expect the warm-up suit to fit because my mother-in-law never remembers my size.”

Noting the lines, she said, “That’s why I brought a book. I knew that I would be waiting for a long time.”

Retailers noted that many people wait a week or more before returning items, so it was a bit early to guess whether this would be a big return season.

One Fashion Valley jeweler said that many recipients of jewelry are reluctant to return items “since it’s a more romantic type of gift.”

But books were big return items Thursday, with many people receiving the same best seller from two gift-givers, retailers said.