Stephanie Leon didn't need the shoes, GPS device or the two DVDs she received as Christmas gifts, so she returned them.
Leon, who lives in Minneapolis but was in Aberdeen visiting family, said it would be easier to return the items where her family bought them.
"I'm still in town, and I just figured it would be less stuff to take with me when I travel," said Leon, 28.
While Christmas is the season of giving, the days after are traditionally for taking back unwanted gifts. In December 2011, the National Retail Federation found that consumers handed over holiday gifts with a gift receipt attached more often than not. And shops across Aberdeen saw consumers come in with unwanted items and gift receipts in hand.
Greg Rosenberg, a store manager at Menards, said the store usually takes in a hundred returns on a daily basis but had only 30 returns by noon.
"Usually the day after Christmas is a pretty good one for returns, but we've hardly taken any," he said.
He said it was unlikely there would be a lot more returns as the day went on.
At J.C. Penney Co., shoppers are buying more items than they're returning, said store manager Curtis Clifton.
He attributes the high volume of spending Wednesday to shoppers spending gift cards. He also said because Dec. 26 falls on a Wednesday, customers are likely too busy to return items.
"(The weekend after Christmas) is usually a busy weekend, and not everybody does their returns and exchanges the day after (Christmas)," he said.
For Troy Schanzenbach and his son, Allen, the day after was just the right time. Schanzenbach bought his son the wrong video game and made exchange Wednesday because he had time.
Jackie Uhrich returned a handbag that she bought for her daughter.
"It was one of those things I bought, and it was, if she uses it, fine. If she doesn't like it, I'd take it back," Uhrich said.
Her daughter didn't like it, Uhrich admitted with a laugh.
Target saw an increase in the number of returns and is likely to see the number of returns climb higher closer to New Year's Day, said Stacy Bauer, store manager for Aberdeen's Target.
"I think it's a variety of reasons," she said. "People have Christmas later. Some have it over the new year or have the this week."
She also noted that the day after Christmas fell on a weekday this year. Still, the store is staffing three people at the return desk and is capable of more, she said.
"Depending on traffic and how it was last year, that's how we schedule," she said.
