Shoppers Stock Up on Holiday Markdowns

At malls throughout Ventura County, Friday looked as much like the day before Christmas as the day after. Exchanges, half-price sales and the need for a little self-indulgence enticed shoppers out of warm houses into the chilly morning air to fill parking lots as early as 7 a.m.

The busiest workers appeared to be sales clerks in the Christmas-ornament sections. Lines of shoppers a dozen deep had queued up at checkout counters minutes after stores unlocked their doors.

Patient customers clutched rolls of Christmas wrap, Christmas cards and Christmas ornaments. It mattered not which store--Robinsons-May, Montgomery Ward, Hallmark--Christmas paraphernalia everywhere were slashed to half price, and shoppers were taking advantage of the markdowns.

“We’re not exchanging, we’re not spending gift money,” Annie McKee of Oxnard said as she rushed toward the entrance of Robinsons-May in Oxnard’s Esplanade mall just after 8 a.m. “We’re buying half-price ornaments and expensive little decorations for next year. From here we’re going to Macy’s and Green Thumb, just for ornaments.”

Sam Costanza, one of the few male shoppers in evidence, held several boxes of Christmas cards to his chest as he waited in line. “I do this every year,” the Oxnard resident said.

A woman standing behind Costanza echoed his words. “I even woke up my grandson at 6:30 this morning to get down here early,” said Marielou Gajardo of Oxnard, the boy nestled in a big stroller.

Next to Gajardo stood Linda Henry of Ventura, who had already been to Wal-Mart with a friend. “We’re on a mission: to have fun. We’re going to Hallmark next.”

Henry’s remarks were the sentiments of other shoppers in line.

“Today, I’m buying for me,” said Kathy Beaver of Oxnard. “I’m tired of shopping for everyone else. I’ve been doing this for 10 years. I come here alone just to shop for myself and because everything’s on sale.

“I started shopping for relatives and friends in September, so by now I know which stores have what.”

In the women’s clothing section, clerk Sherine Jones explained why most of her customers show up on the day after Christmas to make exchanges.

“Most of them say it’s size.” And a woman waiting in line finished the thought: “But it’s usually because they just don’t like it.”

Downstairs in the department store’s fine-jewelry section, Ados Plummer said her shoppers are unusual: “Here, it’s mostly men buying gifts for women, probably 80% men. Occasionally the husbands bring their wives along to pick out what they like. But sometimes they still want to surprise them.”

At the Hallmark store in The Esplanade, Sundee Smith of Oxnard clutched five rolls of gift wrap and two boxes of Christmas cards. “I’m here for the same reason everyone else is: bargains. I’m finding them, too.”

In the east county, the parking lot at The Oaks mall mirrored that of The Esplanade. Outside the Disney Store, Camarillo resident George Myers stood almost forlornly, his hands resting on the handle of an oversized stroller that held his toddler. His wife was inside the packed store, and he had lost sight of her.

“She must be way in back,” Myers said. “I can’t get in there with the stroller.”

Rick and Maria-Elena Taylor of Thousand Oaks sat outside The Oaks with bags piled around them while they waited for their children to exchange some gifts. The Taylors had one more purchase to make Friday: “An artificial Christmas tree. It usually goes for $700, but today we can get it for 60% off.”

If Christmas-ornament counters were the most bustling spots in the county Friday, the quietest were Christmas tree lots.

“Nobody is buying today. Nobody,” said Will Miller, who has been selling Christmas trees on Montgomery Ward’s parking lot in Ventura for 11 years. Miller and two workers piled a few dozen unsold Christmas trees onto a flatbed truck and tied them down.

“They’re headed for the chipper,” said Miller, who lives in Agoura. “They’ll become mulch for [growing] next year’s Christmas trees.”

His fresh-tree sales had been down this year, he said. “Too much competition, I think.”

Across the street at Macy’s, Betty Birdsall of Ventura stood in line to pay for six boxes of half-price Christmas cards to be mailed in December 1998. Birdsall still had several stores to visit Friday afternoon.

“I’ve gotta get crackin’,” she said. “I’ve only got 364 days to go.”

* MAIN STORY: A1