Traffic was heavy around 31st and Iowa and the sidewalks on Massachusetts Street were crowded as shoppers headed out to exchange items, redeem gift cards and hunt for bargains in the after-Christmas clearance sales Friday.

For many retailers, the busy after-Christmas rush capped off what they called a successful holiday shopping season.

“It was wonderful this year; it was really great. We were really busy and feel very blessed,” said Megan McHenry, manager of the Third Planet, 846 Massachusetts St.

Traditionally, the day after Christmas is a mixed blessing for retailers, who sometimes refer to Dec. 26 as “National Returns Day” because many shoppers only come in to return gifts they didn’t want or can’t use. Stores usually try to capitalize on that traffic with clearance sales featuring marked-down items they weren’t able to sell before Christmas.

But much of that has changed in recent years with the advent of gift cards that people can purchase online and email instantly to their friends and family all over the world, allowing recipients to choose their own gifts.

“We call it the fifth quarter, because that’s really a big business for us,” said Teri Walsh, store manager at the Lawrence SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa St.

Walsh said the Disney animated movie “Frozen” drove a lot of her store’s sales this year because the movie spawned an entire catalog of related merchandise aimed at children, from toys and games to clothing and even life-sized dolls of the film’s main character, Elsa.

“Anything ‘Frozen’ was huge this year,” she said. “And we had everything. It just flew off the shelves. It was huge.”

On the other side of Iowa at Best Buy, shoppers Mike and Susan Dunnaway, of Lawrence, were eager to redeem their gift cards.

“I think gift cards are the way to go for seniors, for teenagers and for husbands,” Susan Dunnaway said as they were walking into the store.

Inside, store manager Jason Maliska said he was seeing a lot of customers coming in Friday to redeem gift cards and schedule installations of new appliances they’d bought for Christmas.

He said gaming software was a big seller at Best Buy this year.

“Anytime the games come out, the second year they’re out is the biggest year,” Maliska said. “It’s been true for both Xbox and PlayStation this year. They’ve been flying off the shelves. The Wii-U also sold a tremendous amount.”

Back on Massachusetts Street, Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop was also crowded with shoppers on Friday.

Sales associate Jake Lasorsa said many customers were there to exchange items, especially jackets and sweaters, but many were also redeeming gift cards.

“It was really busy,” Lasorsa said of the 2014 holiday shopping season overall. “Every year we try to do better and better and figure out what the customer wants. It seems like we have it going pretty well.”