Editor’s note: Throughout the holiday season, we brought Steals and Deals to you every day in Life to help you save money and time. On Sundays in 2012, we’re broadening our coverage to look at all aspects of shopping: from consumer hints and strategies to fabulous finds and local deals.
The mega sales events of the holiday season — Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Free Shipping Day, just to name a few — smartly seduced us to shop up a storm last year.
Retailers have wisely kept that momentum and continue to romance consumers in the early days of 2012.
Still need a 2012 calendar?
Log on to www.amazon.com and find a wide variety of calendars to suit almost any interest. The handsome Ansel Adams 2012 wall calendar, for instance, has been marked down from $19.99 to $9.99.
Ready to replace those broken Christmas ornaments or lights?
Now is the time, as merchants eager to clear out their 2011 holiday products — and showcase new merchandise — are offering huge discounts.
At 67 cents, for example, the Holiday Living 100-count clear mini-Christmas string lights at Lowe’s is a tough price to beat.
While it makes sense calendars and Christmas-related merchandise would be deeply discounted this month, a quick spin through the marketplace finds other categories worth checking out for savings.
White sales
The phrase “white sale” was coined in 1878 by John Wanamaker of the famed Philadelphia department store bearing his name. Bed linens, which were available in white only, were sold at a discount.
Wanamaker’s fine tradition has continued throughout the years, and today we have a veritable rainbow of colors and patterns from which to choose during the so-called white sales. Now is the time to scour the brick-and-mortar stores and online shops to find the sweetest savings of the year on table and kitchen linens, bedding and bath towels.
According to www.DealNews. com, the bigger the chain, the bigger the savings.
Retail giants such as Macy’s and JCPenney historically have been known to discount their linens up to 70 percent during white sales.
At Whispers Home in Oakwood, owner Judy Wyatt says the shop’s next promotion, which runs from Jan. 14-28, includes 40 percent off select patterns of luxurious Yves Delorme bed, bath and table linens. She says the high-end boutique is also offering 20 percent off classic solids for the bed and bath.
Online merchants, too, are rolling out the promotions this month.
Find 20 percent off bedding and bath items, for example, at www.potterybarn.com. (This offer is good through Feb. 1.)
During its annual winter sale and clearance event, www.garnethill.com is enticing shoppers with discounts from 10 percent to 60 percent. (The Lilly Pulitzer line is part of the sale.)
While thread count, which is a measure of how many threads are woven into 1 inch of fabric, is a consideration when buying fine linens, according to Wyatt, even more important is the quality of the cotton and the yarn construction.
She adds Egyptian cotton, which is featured in the Yves Delorme line, makes for an exceptionally elegant bed ensemble.
Other fabrics to consider: flannel, known for its warmth; jersey, which feels like your favorite T-shirt; cotton blends; silk; and sateen.
Winter apparel
Fashionistas will love to know that many shops — from upscale boutiques to junior apparel chains — are clearing out their winter merchandise to make room for the new collections.
Retailers have given us the perfect opportunity to fluff our winter wardrobes with such go-to items as down jackets, wool coats or hats and scarves.
Although after-Christmas sales focused on winter apparel discounts, many retailers are offering even stronger sales this month, according to Deal News.
L.L. Bean, for instance, is heating things up with 60 percent off winter apparel and gear for men, women and children. To further sweeten the deal for online shoppers, it also has extended the free shipping and handling promo it debuted during the holidays. (No minimum purchase is required.)
Deal News also advises us to keep watch for impressive discounts from French Connection, Express (which last year progressively offered deeper discounts throughout the month), Levi’s, J.Crew, Aeropostale, Banana Republic and Barneys New York.
Fitness equipment
Retailers are cashing in on New Year’s resolutions to get fit, according to Deal News, and making huge price cuts on fitness equipment.
Kmart’s website, for example, promises shoppers will “lose big, save pounds” with all its fitness equipment currently on sale.
“Now is a great time to create the at-home gym and adhere to any fitness resolutions,” says John Parson, director of sales for G&G Fitness, which is the parent company of the Fitness Stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
“Time is precious commodity,” he adds, and fashioning a home gym allows us to work out according to our schedules. “And arguably it can take you as long to get to and from the gym as it does to do your workout at home.”
Today, the local Fitness Store (641 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Washington Twp.) will have its largest sales event of the year, according to Parson, “and everything will be on sale.”
Share your shopping ideas by calling rmcmacken@DaytonDailyNews.com or calling (937) 225-0671. Follow the Steals and Deals blog at www.DaytonDailyNews.com/go/bargains.
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