Post-Christmas Shoppers Swarm Malls

Malls across the Bay Area Monday were filled with shoppers who were looking to exchange Christmas gifts and take advantage of the final sales of the year.

Linh Nguyen, 33, of San Francisco, was one such shopper. She was at the Westfield San Francisco Centre to return a pair of gloves her boyfriend had given her for Christmas because they were the wrong ones.

"I showed him the gloves online," Nguyen said. "I guess he wasn't listening."

While she was there, Nguyen also bought seven cashmere sweaters from Bloomingdales as part of a sale she found out about via email Sunday night.

"Now, it's time for me," she said.

Westfield San Francisco Centre spokeswoman Amy Benson said she expected the shopping center to be as busy as Christmas Eve Monday but with a different feeling or energy.

"The people who waited 'til the last minute, there was that urgency," Benson said of the Christmas Eve shoppers. "It's more of an enjoyable day (Dec. 26). They have more time to enjoy the holiday."

Benson said many shoppers also came to use gift cards they received Sunday.

"The holiday madness has come and gone," she said. Along with Black Friday and Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Lines formed prior to the mall's opening at 8 a.m. in front of some stores including Nordstrom, which was having one of its largest sales of the year, Benson said.

"(There are) lots of bargain shoppers" and consumers are becoming savvier, she said.

Another shopper, Tiffany, was at Saks Fifth Avenue in Union Square prior to its opening for the store's largest sale of the year.

"It's the best shopping day of the year," Tiffany said. She said there was a large crowd outside of Saks when she arrived Monday morning and when the doors opened people pushed each other and some grabbed armfuls of shoes. "It was like swarms of locusts," she said.

- Bay City News