The lure of bright lights, satin bows and foil wrap all at 50 percent off brought hordes of customers to Kmart on Tuesday for the day after Christmas specials. I buy a few presents and a lot of decorations, Lois Sadler of Franklin said. I hit all the sales. Kmart is one of hundreds of nationwide retailers offering longer hours and special prices the day after Christmas hoping to attract shoppers and unload merchandise. Its more economical for stores to sell off holiday merchandise at big discounts than it is for them to pay the costs of carrying the inventory, said Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnards Retail Trend Report in Upper Montclair, N.J.Nearly 11 percent of holiday buying took place last year during the week after Christmas, exceeding the 8.5 percent during the Thanksgiving weekend shopping period, according to International Council of Shopping Centers. Most of the early morning shoppers at Kmart were snapping up deals on Christmas decorations for next year, said area manager Nelda Mathews. The store opened at 6 a.m. two hours earlier than normal to accommodate shoppers Tuesday. There was some stuff we wanted to get, so we just decided to come out and see what they had, said Ralph Brewer, a shopper from Bowling Green. Brewer and his wife, Geneva, loaded up their cart full of giant yard candy canes, Christmas wrap and other decorations to stash away for next year. Kmart checkout clerk Jeffery Temples got to the store at 5:45 a.m., where he was greeted by the stores early bird shoppers. They were lined up at the door, Temples said. While Dec. 26 traditionally is a day for returning gifts that didnt fit or came in the wrong color, most of the lines at Kmart and at nearby JCPenney were people making new purchases. Penneys opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday two hours earlier than the stores regular opening hour. Most everything that is seasonal is half price, Penneys store manager Rick Abercrombie said. So people are trying to catch these bargains. Shoppers at Bowling Greens Sears, Roebuck & Co. were doing a lot of shopping for themselves Tuesday, store manager Shawn Burke said. Its more shopping, instead of for someone else, for yourself, Burke said. With the amount of people who are given a gift card or cash for Christmas, they can purchase what they chose. Not all retail stores expect the shopping bonanza of last years Dec. 26 sales. Dawahares which also opened early saw a lot of traffic but wasnt expecting the percentage of sales it made last year on Dec. 26.Its not going to be a large volume day like last year because the day after Christmas was a Sunday and everybody was off of work, Dawahares store manager Bryan Moody said. Were expecting to do about 9 percent of our net sales for the month this week, Moody said. The Associated Press contributed information for this story.