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I have shared with you how the Target toy clearance works, and how to make a game plan, so now I am sharing some tips for shopping the actual day of the Target Toy Clearance.
1. When you get to the store, don’t just look at the big red signs that says 30% or 50% off, you will want to actually look at the clearance stickers on the toys. The employees may have marked the toys down, but may have not have had the chance to change out the signs. Each clearance sticker will have a small number at the top right hand of the price sticker, this will tell you what the actual markdown percentage is of each individual item. It will usually read 30, 50 or 70. You are looking for the items with the 70!! You can also take a look at the tag, and do the math. If the item is usually $9.99, then it will be $2.98 if it is 70% off. They like to end the price of their clearance items with an 8 or 4.
2. The BIG clearance day will probably happen on a Thursday (possibly a Wednesday or even Friday too), since that is the usual toy markdown day. The time they are marked down varies from store to store, they may all be marked down when the doors open at 8:00, or they may start marking things down around 9:00. There really isn’t anyway to predict exactly when it happens. Depending on how many toys there are to mark down it could take them several hours to get through all of them.
3. It is much easier to shop this sale WITHOUT your children, but if you have to bring them (I usually do) then you should practice saying stuff like “No, that Star Wars toy is not for you, it’s for your cousin Cason”.
4. The Thrifty & Thriving Facebook page is a great resource for this sale. I will be able to post directly to Facebook while I am at Target. I have lots of readers that post on Facebook when their stores have gone 75% off too. Make sure you “like” Thrifty and Thriving on Facebook to stay up-to-date.
5. For the best selection, get there early. Once the markdown has started, the news spreads pretty quick, and all the good stuff starts to disappear.
6. This is a big one!! Put stuff in your cart first, decide what you want to keep later. Trust me on this one! Its much easier to go through your cart later, and take out the items you decide you don’t want, then to try to go back down an aisle to find the Barbie you decided you wanted for your little niece.
7. Don’t always trust the price on the red clearance sticker. Don’t pass on something just because it says 50% off. Throw it in your cart and scan it just before you are ready to checkout. Sometimes items get marked down, but the employees haven’t had the opportunity to change all the price stickers.
8. If they are in the process of marking things down when you get there and only 1/2 of the toy section has been marked down, don’t panic! You are probably thinking ” Who in the heck would panic”? A crazy bargain shopper like me would panic. Trust me, I have panicked before! Here is what you do. You continue to put items in your cart like I mentioned in #6.
Just before you are ready to leave, you then scan items to see if they are in fact 70% off. If not, you politely ask one of the Target employees with one of the pricing guns if they wouldn’t mind checking to see if the price on a certain toy has gone down. You hand them the toy, they zap it with there gun, and then they tell you, that it has indeed been marked down. You secretly get all excited and you put it back in your cart. They have to scan the UPC of one of each of the items for the price changes to take effect. So, if you want to buy 2 of the exact same Lego’s you only need them to scan one of them. All of them will now ring up at the sale price. I have found that most times they don’t mind doing this for you, after all they have to scan and change the price on everything anyway.
I will say that since this clearance sale has become more popular, it is hard for the employees to do their job and scan every toy people bring up to them. There may be a chance that they will not be able to scan your items. It’s definitely worth a try.
9. Get yourself a buddy! What I mean by this, is if you can’t make it to the sale find a friend to help you out. If you are planning on going to the sale, help someone else out. Better yet, if you and your buddy can both go, then hit separate stores and look for things that each other wants. My sister works, so she can’t make it to the sale when it first happens. I always keep stuff in mind for her and pick that up too, it is a big help to her. Friends don’t let friends pay full retail – be a friend!
10. If you stop at more than one or even two Target’s it doesn’t make you crazy. I like to think of it as being dedicated!
Happy Shopping! When the sale starts make sure you let us know on the Facebook page what you have found. I will also include a link on the blog, so we can see everyone’s treasures!
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Brandy says
Stopped in FL. Univ. target tonight to get stuff for the class tomorrow- found kids shoes 75% glitter flats, bk. twinkle toes, boots, bk. patent church shoes-mens slippers, robes, pj sets (plaid & character) 75% & Yankee candles-apple pie, pumpkin pie, harvest, cranberry, fresh baked cookie all 75%–Items in sporting goods had dropped to 50%–likely hit 75% next week–didn’t see any new markdowns in toys–isles were a mess and things looked picked over a good bit–going to skip this store and start at the other one with three nicely stocked isles of toy clearance + endcaps.
Melanie says
can I just say that I have anxiety scared I’m going to miss this sale…does that make me sick?
JRFrugalMom says
I’m with Melanie, I am scared I’m going to miss it…
I can recognize so much of what you said, and I love the one about the cousin…I use this one all the time….at least sometimes it is for the cousin:)
Great Tips! I’m keeping my fingers crossed…..
JR
Frugality Is Free
Katie says
Rochester NY targets were marking down to 75% this morning. There are still some items at only 50% (legos, play tents, nerf) but the majority is 30%. I walked away with lionel train set, lots of polly pockets/littlest pet shop, barbie, star wars figures, and even a circo train table all for 75% off.
Amanda says
Another tip (from a lesson I learned in July) – if you leave your empty cart for a second when the sale starts to get into an aisle, make sure you put something, ANYTHING in your cart to show it is taken. Maybe if I would have put my sunglasses in my cart someone wouldn’t have taken off with it leaving me with an armful of toys and nowhere to put them 🙁 Luckily there were two very sweet women who were heading to the front for more carts and were willing to get me one.