Money Saving Mondays: Seasonal Deals

It makes many New Englanders sad to admit, but with just three weeks left until Labor Day, the end of the summer season is drawing closer. For some of us, though, “end of season” is the beginning of a beautiful phrase that ends with ... "clearance sales."

“Right now is a really great time to stock up on your summertime essentials, because the retailers are making way for the fall merchandise, so you're going to see a ton of sales, 50, even 75 percent off,’’ said consumer expert Annmarie Seldon of TrendyMommies.com.

Walking around the seasonal aisle at the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Medford, Mass., Friday, Seldon pointed out how it proves the truth of a common retail rule: Buy, now, what the stores are trying to get rid of –- now. With retailers thinking ahead to autumn, on Friday afternoon, prices for outdoor grilling equipment and supplies, kids’ sandbox sets, coolers, and summer classics like the Backyard Safari Bug Scooper all reflected significant discounts. A patio/deck table with eight chairs had been slashed from roughly $900 to $600.

“Maybe you want to get a pool or an air conditioner,’’ Seldon said. “Everyone wants those types of items at the beginning of the summer season … Wait till the end of the summer season when they're trying to get rid of all those air conditioners, and that's when you'll see deep discounts.’’

True as far as it goes – but Kevin Brasler, executive editor of nonprofit consumer ratings firm Consumers’ Checkbook, warns there are a lot of fake sales this time of year. “It’s all just marketing hype, OK? In fact, we found at Checkbook that most sales aren't even sales at all,’’ Brasler said.

For example, he said, you'd think now would be a much better time of years to buy a lawn mower at a big home-goods store like Sears, right? “One of the items we tracked at Sears was a mower, and you'd think, well, at the end of the summer, they're going to want to clear out those mowers. Well, that lawn mower was on sale for 43 of the 44 weeks we tracked prices. Every week,’’ Brasler said.

Brasler says your best bet may be to look for deals on things that can die: “If you're buying plants or something like that at the end of the year, are there going to be steep discounts on plants, because they're only going to be around for a couple more months? Yeah, sure.’’

Seldon agrees not every advertised deal is a guaranteed deal but is less discouraging overall than Brasler. “In certain retailers, it is the case, because they do want to make way for that fall and winter merchandise,’’ Seldon said. Pointing out grills marked down by $30 to $50 from their price earlier in the summer, Seldon said, “Some of these gas grills on sale, there are some great savings here at BJ's.’’

But the key is, when you see an “on sale” or “reduced price” tag, having a good sense for what the price has been the other 51 weeks of the year.

“You just can never trust that's a good price,’’ Brasler said, “unless you do a bit of shopping around.’’

With video editor Lauren Kleciak and videographers Tony Sabato and Daniel J. Ferrigan. NECN’s Leslie Gaydos contributed to this report.

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