The day after Christmas is quickly becoming one of the biggest shopping days of the year. But is spending your Christmas cash right away the best way to save?

Whether they didn't get that perfect gift, or simply got it in the wrong size, hundreds of bargain hungry shoppers packed the Holyoke Mall.

"It's been hectic," says Marisol Rivera. "I was here on Christmas Eve and it wasn't that busy, but today it's pretty busy."

They hoped to cash in on their holiday returns.

"A lot of people I noticed," says Rivera. "They are even getting cheaper stuff."

Shoppers tried to double their stash by returning gifts bought at full price, and picking up items with sales tags slashed.

"He found his PSP stuff on clearance, found a couple movies and we're looking for shoes now," says Jaime Abbott.

The clearance racks were overflowing, because stores like the Burlington Coat Factory tried to lure in shoppers during a retail slump by offering day after Christmas sales early.

"We were running Christmas sales before Christmas," says Store Manager Karla Szarlan. "And now after Christmas we're running some deep discounts you would normally see in January."

But some shoppers say those deep discounts didn't go low enough.

"We came because we heard the sales were awesome, but we found out they weren't everything we thought," says Kim Ashwood.

Consumer advocates say stores are holding back their after Christmas sales because people have cash and gift cards to burn. So if you want the real deals you may have to make another trip to the mall in 2009.