Consumers Carry On Shopping Tradition : Business: Thousands are lured to stores the day after Christmas, receiving discounts of up to 60% on merchandise, including holiday items.

With the pressure of Christmas behind them, thousands of Ventura County residents kept right on shopping Tuesday, taking advantage of sales that offered discounts as great as 60%.

By early afternoon, the throngs of shoppers at The Oaks and Buenaventura malls were nearly as large as the crowds that had inundated the retail centers the week before Christmas, officials said.

“It seems like the day before Christmas--we have had as nearly as many people,” said Diane Brandes, marketing director for The Oaks in Thousand Oaks. “People started showing up really early and nearly everyone has a shopping bag.”

As employees began to remove Christmas decorations at the Buenaventura Mall in Ventura, residents hit stores such as The Limited, which was offering an additional 20% discount for those shopping before 1 p.m.

“I’m delighted with the sales; I didn’t expect [prices] to be this low,” Rosa Amaro, 59, of Oxnard said as she held a $300 black leather jacket for which she had paid $180. “I’m shopping for the Christmas gifts that I did not get.”

For Nancy Potempo, 40, of Oxnard, the after-Christmas sales were an opportunity to rebuild her wardrobe.

“I have lost 25 pounds and now I need some new clothing,” said Potempo, holding six shirts and two slacks on her right arm and browsing through the handbag department at Buenaventura’s Broadway. “I’m surprised with the quantity and quality of products. I expected the shelves to be pretty empty.”

Trying to beat the day-after Christmas consumer frenzy, Ventura resident Candace Walker, 30, showed up at the Target store in Ventura at 7:30 a.m. to buy herself new clothing with Christmas gift certificates that she received.

“This is a Christmas tradition to me,” Walker said as she pulled a shopping cart loaded with shirts, pants, workout outfits, Christmas decorations and more. “Some items are much cheaper than they were before Christmas and people are much nicer, too--people are not rushing as they were before.”

At The Oaks, scores of shoppers came early and waited anxiously for the Disney Store to open.

“We had 50 to 70 people pushed up against the glass before I got here,” store clerk John Thomas said.

Mary and Tania McComas, a mother-daughter shopping team from Newbury Park, were on their fourth trip to their car carrying two large bags each.

“This is our Christmas ritual,” Tania McComas said. Like the purchases of other shoppers, many items that the McComases bought were heavily discounted Christmas-themed merchandise--including a life-size fabric reindeer.

Many consumers took a strategic approach to buying, with some bringing along newspaper advertisements to find the best buys.

“We’re trying to figure out how to get to all the places we want,” Oak Park resident Polly Grimm said. “I’ve managed to spend a ton.”

Some also brought along relatives to bolster their buying willpower.

“I’m monitoring my sister,” said Gary Cannon, who was in Thousand Oaks visiting family and shopping with his sister, Nancy Cannon. “She might bankrupt the family.”

At Robbie’s Hallmark Store where the Cannons were shopping, the aisles were overflowing with people racing to buy discounted Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon.

Earlier in the morning, the line for the cash register stretched to the back of the store, and shoppers waited up to 50 minutes to pay for their items, employee Eric Swiman said.

Although about 400 people made purchases at the store by noon, Swiman said this year was a slow one.

“We tend to do very good every year on this day,” he said. “But it’s been more in the past.”

Although several stores set aside special booths for returning and exchanging merchandise, the lines were generally short and the wait brief.

“We waited about 10 minutes to exchange some gifts,” Cristal Daley said at the Target store in Ventura, where three clerks helped customers. “I expected long waiting lines.”

At Toys R Us in Thousand Oaks’ Janss Marketplace, bright fluorescent signs at the front door marked extra lines for returns. But customers weren’t coming, and an overabundance of clerks stood ready to assist.

“It’s nothing compared to what it’s normally like [after Christmas],” department head Angie McCarter said. “This is a normal day.”

Brandes, marketing director for The Oaks, said mall officials expect that sales this December will be similar to sales in December 1994.

“We won’t know for sure until the end of the month, but sales this Christmas season are likely to match what we had last year,” she said. “We have seen a lot of people in the mall and merchants seem pretty happy.”

Lima is a Times staff writer. Herman is a Times correspondent.

* MAIN STORY: A1