“Buying, not returning” Idaho Falls shoppers support small business day after Christmas

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — While the day after Christmas typically marks a nationwide wave of holiday returns, small businesses in downtown Idaho Falls are seeing more shoppers buying than returning.

Despite National Retail Federation projections that 17% of holiday purchases will be returned this year, totaling an estimated $890 billion in retail reversals for the 2025 season, local shop owners say the atmosphere remains more "buy" than "bye-bye."

Local News 8 visited several downtown businesses whose owners told us that while the morning began with a quiet start, things started to pick up as the day went on. Many of these independent businesses report significantly fewer returns than in previous years. Davin Napier, co-owner of Idaho Mountain Trading, noted that the day has become an opportunity for growth rather than a loss of revenue.

"We don't actually get a lot of returns on this day. We actually usually get a lot of exchanges, which is wonderful. So we feel like we offer enough for everyone, but then they can actually just exchange it. And so it's actually a really exciting day for us," Davin Napier, Co-Owner of Idaho Mountain Trading.

Shop owners attribute this shift partly to store policies that favor exchanges or store credit over cash refunds, keeping holiday dollars within the local economy.