NEW YORK — For the nation's retailers, folks like James Coffey could be a savior of the holiday season.

Decked out with gift cards and a desire to spend, Coffey headed to the Town Center Mall in Charleston, W.Va., early yesterday aiming to spend at least $200, and possibly $300.

I'm looking for new merchandise," said Coffey, one of millions of shoppers who returned to the nation's malls on the day after Christmas for the second round of the holiday shopping season.

Many merchants are relying even more on the post-holiday business to meet their modest sales goals this winter, having been previously stymied by shoppers procrastinating even longer than in 2004. They're wooing customers with deeper discounts, expanded shopping hours and fresher wares at regular prices.

They're largely aiming their efforts at the growing numbers of gift card holders like Coffey who are expected to spend their newfound money more generously. Gift card sales are recorded only when they're redeemed.

"Retailers have recognized that December has 31 days," said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group Inc., a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y.

In fact, in an effort to prop up profits, a growing number of stores such as Coach Inc., Target Corp., and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. rolled out some spring merchandise while KB Toys Inc. was pushing new versions of Barbie and the funky Bratz dolls.

Consumer electronic chains such as Best Buy Co. Inc. were highlighting CDs, DVDs and video games in their advertising, counting on shoppers to feed the gadgets they received for the holiday season.

Still, most shoppers were clamoring for a deal.

"I wouldn't pay full price today for anything," said Misty Watters, who snapped up discounted Nike sweat pants and T-shirts at McCain Mall in North Little Rock, Ark.

Meanwhile, at the Robinsons-May store in suburban Canoga Park, Calif., hundreds of people were standing outside in the rain before the 6 a.m. opening.

Some shoppers were finishing their own Christmas shopping.

"You get good bargains," said Gloria Mendez of New York City, who left a Filene's Basement store in Manhattan with two loaded bags.

James Johnson, a driver for FedEx Corp., bought a last-minute gift at a Wal-Mart store in Bowie, Md.

"I just didn't have time before Christmas. I was too busy working," Johnson said.

Some shoppers were able to nab the season's hottest gifts, which have been in scarce supply.

Kimberlee Wiley of New Bedford, Mass., went hunting for a $300 iPod digital music player at the local Filene's department store, using all the gift cards she received for Christmas. She discovered they were sold out, and later bought the player online.

While this week should be busy for retailers, Cohen of NPD Group Inc., expects that retailers will wind up with a modest sales increase of a little more than 3 percent for the November-December period.

The estimate is based on same-store sales, which are sales at stores opened at least a year.

Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, expects that 20 percent of gift card holders will redeem their cards this week. According to a survey conducted by Accenture, 44 percent of shoppers polled said they spend their gift cards within a month of receiving them.

And more than half said they will spend more than the value of the card.

Eric Sellen of Holt, Mich., at a local Target store, was one of those buyers. He used a $40 gift card and some of his own money to buy three DVDs. Sellen said the gift cards were nice because they let him choose the titles he wanted.

According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., the week after Christmas accounted for 10 percent of holiday sales last year, but analysts expect that period could account for as much as 14 percent this year, given gift cards' soaring popularity.

The National Retail Federation estimates that consumers will spend $18.48 billion on gift cards this holiday season, up 6.6 percent from a year ago, based on a survey conducted by BIGresearch. But plenty of malls and stores are seeing far larger increases.