It seems that every time I walk out of Target, I leave with at least four
things I had no intention of buying. I
love shopping Target’s clearance section.
Here are a few tips to finding the best deals!
Items initially marked on clearance are usually placed on an
endcap in the original department of the item.
These endcaps are usually on the outside perimeter of the store, so you’ll
have to look around to find the endcaps. Almost always there will be a few
signs marking the section.
Target tends to mark down food, health and beauty products, and
electronics starting at 15% off.
Clothing tends to start at 30% off. Items that haven’t sold usually move to 50%
off, then 70-75% off. I’ve even seen
holiday items for as much as 90% off!
For the most part, items on clearance get marked down
further every two weeks.
Each department marks down items on different days of the
week. Markdowns usually don’t happen
over the weekend. Slower stores, like
mine here in Bloomington, seems to have a greater selection of items on
clearance than my mom’s store in the Chicago area. Individual stores vary in terms of what is on
clearance when and for how much it is on clearance for.
Here is the typical schedule of when items get marked down:
Mon. —
Electronics, Accessories, Kids Clothing, Books, and Stationary
Tues. —
Domestics, Women’s Clothing, Pets and Food
Wed.
— Men’s Clothing, Health and Beauty, Lawn & Garden items, and Baby
Thur. —
Housewares, Lingerie, Shoes, Toys, Sporting Goods, Décor, and Luggage
Fri. —
Auto, Cosmetics, Hardware, and Jewelry
Take a look at this clearance tag:
On the left is the original price. On the right is the mark down price. I’ve been told that items ending in “4” are
the lowest the item will go. Look
closely at the upper right-hand corner: this number is the percent off the
item currently is. Super handy!
Here
is an example:
I recently bought a 4.2 ounce Matrix
Amplify Volumizer. The original price
was $16.99. It was on clearance for
$4.24, a savings of 75%! I found this item on an endcap with several other
products on clearance (soap, deodorant, facial tissue). The posted sign said “30% or more” and this
product was 75% off. Look carefully for
good deals! These products were back in
the paper products section (near the trash bags and toilet paper), and not in
the health and beauty section. When
items are marked down so low, they tend to be placed together in one area even
if the products aren’t from the same department.
Keep in mind you
can use manufacturer’s and Target store coupons for items on clearance for even bigger
savings!
For instance, I bought this
soap refill on clearance for $2.78 (30% off) and had a coupon for another $0.50
off. That brought my savings to 43%!
Finally, I’ve gotten word that July and October are the big
clearance events on toys, in addition to the after-holiday clearance sale in
January. July and January are the big
clearance events on baby items.
How about you? What is the best deal you’ve gotten at
Target?