WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WBEN) - Billions of dollars are expected to be lost by companies across the country as a result of gift returns.
But small businesses aren't expected to see many losses.
Blush Boutique
Blush Boutique is one of the businesses that made some changes to its return policy for the holiday season. Normally, the return policy at the local women's fashion boutique is ten days for an exchange or store credit.
"For the holidays we extend (our return policy) to 30 days to exchange for something else or store credit," owner Lexie Furlong told WBEN. "We do make sure that when people buy gifts for people, we let them know that."
Blum's, located on 5727 Main Street in Williamsville, is also extending their return policy.
"We never really have a return policy because of the nature of our products," manager Ashley Doll said. "But for the Christmas season we do extend it through the 15th of February. Obviously we can't take returns all the time. It would impact us and we could not afford that. But when it comes to gift giving...if my husband went out picked something up for me I would really appreciate it and I would have a good laugh when he picks out the wrong size and has to return it."
She said that even the good thing about people returning to the store after the holidays is that it gives the small business an opportunity to get people to buy something else.