Aug 15 2009
Bargain Shopping!
One way you can save some serious cash is to do bargain shopping at stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory and Ross. These stores get closeout or irregular items from name brand retailers. The majority of their inventory is clothing but they also have toys, small sporting goods, luggage, home decor (TJ Max also has HomeGoods stores), shoes, and even books.
Markdowns are significantly, usually 50-75% off of what you would pay retail. For example, I bought a nice Calvin Klein dress shirt at TJ Maxx for 17.99 - this would be over $50 at Macy’s or the CK store. Most of these stores have a large clearance section - the prices there are ridiculously cheap. I found a nice Lucky Brand tee shirt for $5.00, it would have been 24.99 at a Lucky Brand store.
Ok, so now the drawbacks. You have to rifle through a LOT of stuff - and some of the clothes are downright ugly. Depending on the store, they can be total madhouses with inventory everywhere - generally not very tidy. Thus - shopping at these places can be fairly time consuming.
Ross Stores has the cheapest prices by far while TJ Maxx has more higher end inventory with higher prices. If you only like high-end stuff, try Nordstrom Rack or hit the outlet malls.
Overall, you can save quite a bit of money by shopping at these stores. Give them a shot!
