I’m not sure if President’s Day is a holiday honoring all the U.S. Presidents, just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, or some other combination. There seems to be a lack of clarity…which I find incredibly interesting given this election year. One thing is for certain, however, and that is the annual capitalization on the holiday by most all merchants. Open your local paper, check your e-mail, or visit your favorite default home page, and you know won’t be available to avoid a Presidents Day Sale interruption.
With children’s clothing, the merchants use President’s Day to further push and/or mark down Winter Clearance and as an opportunity to promote new Spring lines with 15-30% discounts. The sales generally start during the week before the Holiday and are often permanent mark downs that will continue after the Holiday.
Unless you have an urgent need for spring clothing, I recommend resisting the President’s Day campaigns and waiting for deeper discounts. The prices on the spring introduction lines will continue to come down.
On-line shoppers may be tempted with free shipping, store-wide discounts, and 20% coupon codes. Use these opportunities to buy already discounted winter merchandise or additional discounts on Spring merchandise (so you realize a good 50% savings or more).
By now, you’ll see all the department stores and most boutiques offering 60-75% discounts on winter lines and styles, sometimes even higher. It’s not unheard of to get 80-90% discounts between now and the end of March before it completely leaves the floor.
Here’s a sampling of current deals:
Gymboree – Extra 20% off Sale Items, plus earn Gymbucks
Crazy 8 – Extra 20% off Sale Items
Janie and Jack – Free personalization
Gap Kids & Baby Gap – Coupon code for 20% off $100 purchase (use “SPRING20″)
Mini Boden – Buy 3 Items, Get 4th for $1 (just make sure all your items are of equal value or close for greatest benefit)
Watch your local paper and peruse the Search Engines for “Presidents Day Sales”; “Presidents Day Coupon”; “Presidents Day Code”; and “Presidents Day Free Shipping” to scout out more deals.
– Suzanne Rielle, Co-founder, Loobalee.com