Oxford Stays Peaceful, Stores Quiet Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas is renowned for being another of the biggest shopping days of the year. With sales on most Christmas items, such as decorations and gift sets, the day usually provides great bargains for shoppers and big numbers for retailers.
But in Oxford this morning, the Square was eerily quiet and parking spaces were readily available for the random cars that pulled in and then out from in front of shops that, for the most part, were closed Friday.

From Neilson’s to Hinton & Hinton, lights were off and doors were locked as a lot of Square merchants chose to take an extra day for the Christmas holiday, giving employers and employees one more day at home to spend with their family. Signs on some doors showed that things would be back to normal by tomorrow, but for today stillness prevailed that was totally out of character for the beloved Square, even on weekends.
And while a handful of shops were opened along the normally bustling Square, giving shoppers the option of taking advantage of some very good deals, the shops that chose to be closed were also providing a service of the same kind, not to shoppers maybe, but definitely to their employees.
It was very refreshing to this journalist to walk around the Square and find the shops that were opened, such as Square Books Jr., filled with great deals and super-nice employees and also to see a large portion of merchants just slowing down and not promoting the usual hustle and bustle the day after Christmas customarily brings.
Paul Fyke, a salesperson at Square Books Jr., said today they were offering 20 percent off all Christmas items in the store.
“Today we have 20 percent off our great Christmas items that we have in stock,” Fyke said. “It’s a wonderful time to purchase next year’s Christmas items like an Elf on the Shelf, for people who haven’t bought one yet. And we have a good supply in stock.”
Fyke said Square Books Jr. opened the day after Christmas just about every year and as far as he knew all the stores would be reopened tomorrow.

“And we’ll be opened until 6 p.m. today,” he added.
And while the Square was unusually quiet, even big retailers like Walmart appeared slow when this reporter visited; return lines were very tolerable at 9:30 a.m. The store reopened at 5:00 a.m. for its day after Christmas business and it would appear that the majority of shoppers took advantage of that early hour to bargain-shop and make those returns.
Either way, opened or closed, the day after Christmas proved very enjoyable to this customer. Thanks merchants for small-town options bigger cities simply don’t allow.
Angela Rogalski is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at angela.rogalski@hottytoddy.com.