Roseville draws holiday bargain hunters to Rosedale Center after Christmas Day

Verretta Strickland, an accountant in the Twin Cities, completed her mission for the day around 4 p.m. on Monday at Rosedale Center in Roseville.

"I know a deal," Strickland said with a smile.

She arrived at Rosedale Center at 7 a.m. to search for after-Christmas deals. That proved to be early enough to beat the crowd that soon filled Rosedale's parking lots in the afternoon.

"I'm a door-buster," Strickland said. "I'm one of those who run right through the door."  

Strickland avidly goes out to shop on many of the major holiday-related shopping days such as Black Friday after Thanksigiving. She also prepares ahead of time looking for coupons in anticipation of the deals to be found.

"After Christmas, you don't get a whole lot of deals unless you get the coupons out of the paper," Strickland said.

Deals tended to draw people to Rosedale more so than returning items. Department stores such as Herbergers marked down seasonal items, and shoppers have responded by coming to buy. Herbergers offered 75 percent off on Men's Gifts and Trim the Home sections.

"Over the years, it's become more of a shopping day than a return day," Herbergers store manager Judy Gulbraa said.

She and other store managers reported busy crowds of people in their stores throughout the afternoon. Food vendors also had plenty of business with the crowds of shoppers taking a break for a bite to eat. One retail sales associate even noted that grocery stores hold their own on the day after Christmas.

"I used to work at grocery store, and it was pretty busy then too," Andrew Tholen said.

Though Rosedale had plenty of shoppers roaming the mall, some shoppers came to get away from even larger shopping crowds. Three Bloomington teens drove up to shop at Rosedale instead of the heavily crowded Mall of America.

"Parking was full," Isaiah Wilson said. "People were parking in the TGI Friday's parking lot, and they were getting towed."

All of this came following one of the few days of the year when stores and malls lay dormat. In addition, shoppers came out inspite of the balmy December weather in the high 40s. Gulbraa said winter gear sales were low on Monday.

"They buy when they need it with the exception of kids," Gulbraa said. "Kids snow pants, hats, gloves and boots sell out. Parents buy that before the season changes."

Meanwhile, shoppers kept hunting for another round of post-holiday bargains.