I recently hit the outlets and I came home with some great booty: two gorgeous throw pillows that usually go for $50 and up, marked down to $8 a piece! These fringed beauties are now on proud display on my sofa, the source of bragging rights when I tell the tale about stumbling upon them in a remote store display that a hunch told me to check out. (For more on following your shopping hunches, don't miss the tips below.)
My whole house is furnished with similar outlet treasures that I picked up for a song. And each and every one has a tale of creative couponing, brazen haggling, or intrepid perseverance behind it, such as the set of six elegant, gold-rimmed (yes gold!) plates I found—one at a time—by pawing through dusty stacks of chipped and mismatched markdowns in the back room of the Wedgewood outlet store. We bet you have similar stories, and we'd love to hear them. Post your best tips and strategies for uncovering deals right here with your name, city, and state, and they may be published in a future issue of ShopSmart.
To get you started, here are three great tips from one of the savviest shoppers on our staff, Anne Galletta, our own “Queen” of outlet shopping.
Listen to your hunches. They can steer you to some great deals—literally. Anne was driving home from work one night when something told her to veer into the Bed, Bath & Beyond (www.bedbathandbeyond.com) parking lot she was about to pass. Heeding the instinct, she did, and headed straight to the clearance area of the store, where she found the $100 pool toy her little granddaughter had been begging for. Not only was it marked down, but with the trusty coupons Anne always carries with her, she was able to walk out with the toy for $10!
Get creative with coupons. When the Geoffrey Beene outlet store was giving $5 off coupons with every purchase, no matter how big or small, Anne checked out her five purchases one at a time, erasing $5 off each one.
Go ahead and ask. When it comes to getting a better price, Anne follows the "It never hurts to ask" rule. And it often pays off. On a recent trip to Old Navy, she spied a pile of men’s short-sleeved shirts marked $2 and under. She pulled out a couple, but the price tag said $7.99. “I told the cashier they were on the $2-and-under pile and she rung them up at $1.99. Plus, the store accepted my 15-percent-off coupon, so I got six nice shirts for $1.69 each!"
Your turn: Post your tips on how you got a great deal!
