Best Bargain this season

I haven't done much shopping this year, but I stumbled into Ann Taylor Loft yesterday just to look around. I found a pair of black suede pumps for 9.99. I was shocked. Are you all coming across amazing deals? It struck me how slow things really are in retail. I'm a size 8 and it was Dec 23rd and they had shelves full of shoes marked down really cheap. What's going on in your neck of the woods? Are the shelves full? Are there many people in the stores? I don't recall ever seeing anything like this in my life time.

I walked through a major department store downtown last week to take a break from the cold. Let's me walk a block in a heated building. It was a ghost town. Makes me wonder what things will look like next year.

They were saying that the stores were selling stuff for as much as 80% off, and that most of the stores were really empty. No lines for the cashiers or anything.

They were saying that alot of the stores were hoping for some heavy shopping to be done right after Christmas.

xmas too.
Who knows if there will be many stores left. It's eerie....

But I'll keep my eye open for anything that's coming up.

http://www.kbtoys.com/

There are still some things available online discounted. Some of the sales end 12/29


http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/kb-toys-to-close-156-stores-closeout-sale-begins-118/

This is from last year...Now they are going out of business.

except right after 9/11. The city was silent. No one talked, no one honked. It was like mass shock. It felt unreal. This isn't quite the same but it has a similar uneasiness to it.

I went to a very high end mall in Houston, and it looked like most people were just walking around.

People are just afraid to spend money.

We only gave gifts to kids and they were gift cards they can use throughout the year if they need things... just in case things get worse. That's pretty much it. DH and I don't exchange xmas gifts. We do things for charity instead. This year we gave money to a toy drive down state where my in laws live. Lots of people out of work there, we figured this would be a difficult holiday for a lot of kids. Didn't even put up a tree this year. The commercial stuff just feels so wrong right now.

Will this change be more permanent? Do you think we'll carry this forward even after the economy recovers?

Some people would go back to the old days but not most.

I think a lot of us are going to be like our Grandparents and Great Grandparents from the 1930's.

I think we need to go back to the old Christmas club account, save a little each month for Christmas.

I had totally forgotten about that. I'm signing up in January. Thanks for the reminder.

I was doing some last minute grocery shopping yesterday, and passed a display of gift cards. They had all kinds: $tarbucks$, Bed Bath and Beyond, iTunes, etc. I thought "aha!" and picked out a grocery store coupon for my son: he can always use groceries, right (if not he can always blow it on beer)? Other than that I don't know what the hell to give him, aside from some inexpensive items I've gathered over the year. He's been living on his own for years now.

A well dressed older woman was scrutinizing the rack, and asked me where the grocery cards were. She picked out one for her daughter. Then she asked me if I thought that the local utility company would allow her to pay her daughter's bills as a Christmas present. It seems her daughter recently got laid off, and has three small children.

{{sigh}}

Expect a lot more of that in the coming days. Grocery cards and utility bills taking precedence over expensive tchotchkes.

both the grocery card and the paying of someone's utility bills.

Things were really slow at the mall right up until the last couple of days when it suddenly got very busy. A tour of our local Target revealed that they were low on the more practical gifts such as socks and T-shirts.

We gave practical gifts this year, too--tires, winter coats, socks, stuff like that.

the rest. I bought a grand total of 3 things new: a crock pot for my youngest, and a calligraphy set and a hat/gloves/scarf set for my middle daughter. The crock pot was on clearance for $12.99, I used my 50% off coupon at Michael's for the calligraphy set, so I paid $10 for that, and the winterwear set was 60% off, so I paid $5.99 for that.
Otherwise, it's all second-hand or hand made.

My whole family is into that kind of thing; Sarahbellum is still crafting gifts as we speak *lol* She did most of her shopping at the thrift stores as well, and my Husband made everything, he did no shopping at all.

I actually increased my spending and gift giving dramatically this year mainly because of the tough economic times. We thankfully had a great 2008 and are looking forward to a solid 2009. I was able to get 25 bikes for kids from the angel tree this year, and donated money to several food banks and the salvation army. We also gave our annual ASPCA gift which they were more than happy to receive.

During my holiday shopping I found that many stores that were taking 50-60% or more off. Even luxury retailers like Gucci were shaving hundreds of dollars off their products and every time I was there they were busy.

My best deal this year, percentage-wise, was a $700 Burberry scarf that I got for $250 for my boyfriend's mother.

Thanks for sharing your good fortune with so many others. Hope your Boyfriend's mother enjoys the scarf.

Khakis and dress pants(as dressy as Old Navy gets)

Old Navy has had sales all month. Good sales.

year's Christmas auction.

AT Loft has all these things with miniature sleeves. I don't know about you, but in the winter I'm not into wearing 3/4 or shorter length sleeves.
There have been some great bargains out there. Here in Seattle people haven't been able to get to the big shops. One news article said that our snow has been a great help to the small neighborhood shops because people can walk to them.
Our closest Barnes and Noble had hardly anyone shopping the weekend before Christmas, when normally there would be long lines.
Hopefully, the shoppers will start buying now that the snow is melting here. We need their money in the economy.

so I love the 3/4th sleeves. They are normal length on me. But you are right. That style is every where. There's not a lot of full length sleeves out this year.

I remember seeing a list of stores that were going out of business, such as Circuit City and Linens 'n Things... and warning people not to purchase gift cards there, because they could be gone after Christmas.

Even if AT isn't in trouble, people may think they are. We have a large AT store at our local mall and it is almost always (nearly) empty when I walk by it. I have only been in there once and didn't buy anything.

But yes, the mall seemed strangely deserted this year. More like January shopping than pre-Christmas.

to promote is concerned. AT has some interesting textile design, but as I posted above, these miniscule sleeves don't appeal to me in the least during the winter. I had a lot of trouble finding basic long-sleeved plain t-shirts to layer under other clothes.
The GAP has been a joke all year. They have some gorgeous fabrics but the fabric is ultra thin--just what you always wanted to wear in underheated offices. Their color selection has been pukey, for the most part. They could succeed if they returned to the basics--some well chosen palettes, dress (work) slacks, jeans, novelty sweaters, work sweaters and a few outerwear jackets. The shoes, for the most part are a stupid choice for them to have made.