
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 27, 1993                   TAG: 9312270009
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STORES OFFER MANY HAPPY RETURNS

If you're like most people, you won't hold onto that awful chartreuse sweater from Aunt Millie for long. You'll march it right over to the department store where she bought it.

And the store will take it back. Sometimes, even if you've worn it.

As the season of returns kicks in, many department stores are more lenient than ever about letting people bring back purchases, retail consultants say.

The aim is to steal sales from shops with stricter return policies, said Howard Davidowitz, a New York consultant.

"It's the huge advantage that department stores offer for gift-giving items," he said. Many off-price outlets and boutiques will offer only credit for returns, he noted.

Salespeople at one department store in downtown Pittsburgh are instructed to take back anything that has a receipt.

Shoes have a particularly high return rate. "Women have a tendency to buy shoes and bring them back after one function," salesman Jim Lamp said.

More than 1,000 pairs of women's shoes - including slightly worn aerobics shoes, boots and pumps - line the back wall of a storeroom. They represent about two months' worth of returns.

Torn or damaged shoes typically are sent back to the manufacturer, Lamp said. Those in better shape are discounted.

"If it's something incredibly stupid, like it was worn for two years and it's totally worn out, we won't take them back," he said.

Some people even return things after using them for the season, said Rick Weissert, manager of a Hills department store in Ross Township, a Pittsburgh suburb.

"At the end of the summer, they return their gas grill," he said. "They return their shovel at the end of winter. At the end of the school year they return all the kids' clothes so they can buy new clothes."

The store still gives refunds on practically anything.

"You are going to be taken in the short run by people who abuse returns," Weissert said. "But in the long run, people will remember how well they are treated."

by CNB