14 Famous Sales
Worth Waiting For
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Where the Real Deals Are
There are sales, and then there are SALES. Some annual (or semi-annual) sales are so popular -- and the payoff is so huge -- that consumers wait all year long to snap up their favorite brands and coveted products on the cheap.
WalletPop bloggers give you the inside scoop on which bargain-hunting events live up to the hype.
Which Sales Did We Miss?
Share Your Favorite Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 1More Popular Features:
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Mark Lennihan, AP
Filene's Basement
Sale: 'Running of the Brides'
Location: Flagship is in Boston, Mass. (Also in N.Y., Ga., Va. and Ohio)
When: Varies per location, typically in February or March.
Why It's Worth the Wait:
First held in 1947, The Basement's Bridal Gown sale has become a tradition among brides-to-be who mob the store in search of designer wedding gowns at ridiculous prices. Dresses worth thousands can be had for as little as $249. See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 2More Popular Features:
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Kiichiro Sato, AP
Victoria's Secret
Sale: Semi-annual sale
When: Each year in January and May
Why It's Worth the Wait:
The store brings out its signature pink bins and fills them with items up to 70% off. Keep in mind that the sale can start online almost a full month before hitting the bricks & mortar stores.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 3More Popular Features:
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Scott Olson, Getty Images
Nordstrom's
Sale: Annual anniversary sale
When: Last two weeks of July
Why It's Worth the Wait:
Savings up to 40% draw hordes of bargain-loving summer shoppers. The sale also extends to its online catalog, Nordstrom.com. Even greater deals are available on leftovers at Nordstrom's Rack Stores, where unloved goods go for a song.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 4More Popular Features:
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Michel Porro, Getty Images
IKEA
Sale: Annual sale
When: Late July to early August
Why It's Worth the Wait:
The prices are pretty reasonable on most things and discounts can occasionally be found in the room where returned goods are kept (though they are sometimes damaged) year-round. But anyone looking for serious bargains has to wait for the once a year sale in late July to early August when stores knock 20 to 60% off selected merchandise. See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 5More Popular Features:
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Scott Olson, Getty Images
Williams-Sonoma
Sale: Semi-annual blowout sale
When: January and June
Why It's Worth the Wait:
Twice a year, the high-end purveyor of quality cookware slashes its prices on selected items by 50% -- even 75% -- off, making sometimes unaffordable items, well, affordable.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 6More Popular Features:
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Hammacher Schlemmer | AP
Hammacher Schlemmer
Sale: "Rather Famous" annual sale
When: Oddly, this "annual" sale is held several times a year
Why It's Worth the Wait:
The oldest continuously-published catalog in the U.S. offers many of its unique items for up to 65% off. If you were hoping for a water-repellent goat suede blazer or an Italian Merino ruffled cape -- these sales may be you chance to snap up some pretty unusual stuff.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 7More Popular Features:
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Garnet Hill
Garnet Hill
Sale: Post-Holiday sale
When: January
Why It's Worth the Wait:
This catalog merchant holds a great post-holiday sale and carries a wide line of impressive goods. It offers women's and children's clothing and household items from linens to furniture. During the sale, a wide selection of its products are available at savings ranging up to 75% off. Garnet Hill offers e-mail sale alerts to clue you in to upcoming bargain opportunities.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 8More Popular Features:
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AP
Hot Topic
Sale: Half-off clearance items
When: Usually in early spring and late summer
Why It's Worth the Wait:
A couple of times a year, Hot Topic puts all of its clearance items on a half-price sale. Unfortunately, these sales are usually not announced until the absolute last minute; in fact, the store employees aren't even told about them until the day before the sale begins.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 9More Popular Features:
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Richard Drew, AP
Brooks Brothers
Sale: Preferred Customer sale
When: January and June
Why It's Worth the Wait:
The suits normally cost a minor royalty's ransom -- the Golden Fleece two-button pinstripe, for example, retails for $1,600. However, the company's semi-annual sales knocks 25% off of much of its stock. If you open a Brooks Brothers credit account at that time, you can bump this discount up to 33%.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 10More Popular Features:
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Menards
Menards
Sale: Fit-in-a-bag sale
When: Possibly August
Why It's Worth the Wait:
In this promotion, Menards sends full-sized grocery bags out with a sales flier. Shoppers can fill them with whatever they wish, (subject to restrictions) and items in the bag are then discounted by a percentage (which varies from sale to sale, but last August's was 15%) off the normal price of the items in the bag. A Menards spokesman declined to confirm the sale. See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 11More Popular Features:
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Andrew H. Walker, Getty Images
Henri Bendel
Sale: Semi-annual sale
When: January and late August
Why It's Worth the Wait:
Twice a year even the grand dame of New York elegance marks down goods in order to clear the way for the latest runway hits. In late August and January, savvy shoppers from all over the country find their way to the mansions to score clothes, accessories and some cosmetics to carry home in Bendel's trademark white and brown striped bag.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 12More Popular Features:
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Kathy Willens, AP
Manolo Blahnik
Sale: Sample shoe sale
When: Possibly in May and November
Why It's Worth the Wait:
If you want to get $500 shoes, for say, $100, you'll have to keep on your toes. The sale is never announced until just a few days before the event. Usually, they are on any given day in May and November, but in 2004, they had a sale in the month of February; earlier this year, they had one in January.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 13More Popular Features:
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Biasion Studios, WireImage.com
Vera Wang
Sale: Sample/clearance sale
When: Late November
Why It's Worth the Wait:
Wang's fashions can be also be found in Saks, Nieman-Marcus and Marshall Fields, but only in NYC does this killer deal take place. Past sales have found shoppers fighting over gowns and using aisles as dressing rooms to score 75% off of Wang's dresses that cost up to $10,000.
· See More on This Sale
Next: Top Sale No. 14More Popular Features:
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historicbyway
Lincoln Highway
Multi-State Yard SaleSale: BUY-WAY Yard Sale
When: August 7-9, 2008
Why It's Worth the Wait:
If you want to find your bargains in a more interesting manner, check out the longest yard sale in America. It stretches out from West Virginia to Illinois along the Lincoln Highway (old U.S. 30 in most places).
· See More on This Sale
More on AOL: Stores Closing DoorsMore Popular Features:
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Shahrzad Elghanayan, AP
Retail Stores Closing Doors
Over the last couple of months, there has been a flurry of announcements from retailers that they are closing stores, slowing expansion plans or ceasing operations altogether.
From Sharper Image and CompUSA to Macy's and Ethan Allen, we round up more than 20 retailers that are closing (at least some) of their doors. Are some of them your favorites?
· See 23 Stores in Trouble
More on AOL: Bye-Bye BrandsMore Popular Features:
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Mary Altaffer, AP
Brands That Will Disappear
Several brands which were extremely powerful during the last few decades are about to disappear. Many of them no longer drive big sales. Some are a part of companies that are in trouble. Some are part of industries which are falling apart. Here is a list of brands, most over them a decade old, and some much older, which are likely to go away in the next year or two.
· Say Goodbye to These Brands
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If you order a few pies each Superbowl Sunday, you proably already know to order early! Each year, Pizza Hut handles 2.5 million calls on "Big Game" day, making it their busiest day of the year. (Halloween trails right behind as the second busiest for most pizzerias.)
Click through our gallery to see 19 more "busiest days." Some of them may surprise you!
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Recent Comments
WTRDY 12:01:37 AM May 15 2008
Why vote for an amature when you can have Hillary and Bill. Bill Clintonboost the people economicduring his office term. It's the wealthy that is opposing Hillary or Clinton. They want to split Hillary votes so the Republicans can have their man walk in the White House.
Frontman202 10:26:41 PM May 14 2008
if we as a people allow the rich to conrol us and send our kids to die for their interests.......we get what we deserve! show me someone in power that sends their own kids to fight and die for them. even kings led their people to war! the men that decide who lives and dies in safety are nothing but cowards
Frontman202 09:44:45 PM May 14 2008
as a vet i say bill iraq for the billions we spent there and let me afford gas to go to work!
RGif102478 09:23:10 PM May 12 2008
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So stop complaning about the cost of gas!
Hummer2u 12:28:49 PM May 12 2008
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ElinoreHrb 10:07:05 AM May 12 2008
YOU WANT OIL DRILLED FOR IN THIS COUNTRY ? WHAT WOULD IT DO? CONGRESS WOULD NOT LET US BUILD THE REFINERIES TO MAKE IT USEABLE...WE MUST PRESERVE ALL PRISTINE LANDS ETC.. LIKE FOR GOD'S SAKE WHAT FOR ?? IF WE CAN BE INDEPENDENT OF THE MIDEAST FOR THE OIL WE SURVIVE ON , WHERE IS EVERYONE'S BRAIN.???
GET RID OF ALL THOSE MOLDY OLD MEN THAT HAVE BECOME LIFE TIMERS IN THE SENATE AND CAN'T GET THEM SELVES OUT OF A PARTICULAR MOLD BECAUSE IT MIGHT AFFECT THEIR PORFOLIO'S... MOST OF THEM HAVE HIGH DOLLAR INVESTMENTS IN THE PHARMACY AND THAT'S WHY OUR MEDS ARE SO EXPENSIVE AND THEY WANT TO KILL OUR ABILITY TO USE HERBS AND VITAMINS....OUR SENATORS AND THE LIBBY CONGRESS DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY !!!! AND GLOBAL WARMING !!!! GIVE ME A PENTECOSTAL BREAK ~ ! THE MAN THAT THINKS HE IS GOING TO CONTROL THE WEATHER BY WHAT HE CAN OR CANNOT DO IS THE WORLDS BIGGEST FOOL AND IWILL BE PROVEN AS SUCH... IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.. CHOOSE NOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO FOLLOW A FOOL
CSIMONTON17 08:16:13 PM May 11 2008
I think the lax south of the border issue is to over time get SO many illegals here that we will as a country take over the Mexican government and the country and make it a part of the USA at some point. This will make us advantagious to take the oil of that country which is plenty. Follow the money.
