Retailers prepare for return of Y2K survivalist gear

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Stores that sold generators and other Y2K survivalist gear are bracing for returns, but they're taking different stances on whether to accept them.

Home Depot will accept returns, said John Slay, assistant manager of the St. Louis Park store, but has had few. ''We feared that, obviously,'' he said, ''but it's been minimal.''

Menard's in Richfield, by contrast, taped large notices to its counters warning customers that it generally won't take back the merchandise, especially if it has been used.

Sears said it will take back generators. But customers will be out a 20 percent ''restocking charge,'' as a means of the stores collecting something on the deal.

Home Depot had tried to use the Y2K fear as a motivator. A small sign over a flashlight display at the St. Louis Park store asked customers whether they thought ''Monticello'' -- where Northern States Power Co. has a power plant -- was totally free of Y2K bugs.

The display still had dozens of flashlights.

At electronics stores, there was no sign Sunday afternoon of widespread Y2K problems among home-computer users. Traffic was mild.

''People were prepared,'' said Carrie Velenchenko, a sales assistant at the Best Buy store in Minnetonka, who said that sales of Y2K-compliancy products, software upgrades and antivirus packages were brisk during the holidays but had tapered off.

Several computer stores said they were flooded with calls until New Year's Day.

''People were asking if their computers would work,'' said V.J. Singh, a Circuit City sales assistant. ''Everyone was a little skeptical, but it wasn't a huge concern.''

If customers had hesitated to invest in a computer before the date change, that hesitancy is gone. Buying new was what Ave Beaupre of Medina intended to do Sunday.

''We weren't all that concerned about Y2K,'' said Beaupre, who was shopping for a computer for her daughter. ''The industry gave us enough information that we knew what to expect. I was more concerned about my lights coming on.''