Post Christmas Sales: Some Good - Some Aren't

I am usually a big after Christmas shopper. I don't rush out the day after Christmas, I don't stand on long lines to get into stores and I won't go to stores if they are crowded. I go early in the morning only because I'm a morning person and hit the floor running. At this point I don't need wrapping paper or ornaments having stocked up at the last two Target sales when merchandise was reduced to 90%. I go to some of the sales anyway just to look around and see if theres anything special I want. I will be buying the Choxie chocolates when I get t oTarget and I am looking for a really large , nice Snowman for the front entry area of my daughter's house, that's about it.

Many stores knocked down their prices on Christmas items way before the holiday but I'm holding out. Jo Ann's had thier Christmas items priced down almost from the minute they put the items on the shelves. They gradually reduced them to 70% as early as 3 weeks before Christmas. They have charts up showing the price reductions so you can figure out your savings easily . They do this with all seasonal merchandise. Sometimes they do it by brand. Now the Christmas items have been reduced 70% for awhile there isn't a tremendous amount left. The shelves are emptying rather quickly. At the Jo Ann's near me there were still a decent amount of ornaments, almost no paper goods, a good amount of wreaths, only a few candles and about three really huge snowmen and Santas that had originally been $75.00. We checked out the Wilton items that were reduced, they still had a some Christmas cookie cutters arouond , no Wilton sprinkles though and they were already putting out Valentine's cookie cutters . That was startling but that is the way stores seem to be doing things lately. I imagine since the Christmas sale has only just started there won't be much left by the end of the week. They had roped off areas for the lines they must have expected but I checked out with no problem , there were no long lines and only one person ahead of me.

Walgreens and CVS both had Christmas reduced to 50% off. I only looked at their merchandise because I was in their stores shopping for other things. I did pick up two pair of adorable Christmas pajamas for next year since they were now $6.00 for two pair reduced from $12.00 for two pair . They were really cute and in sizes Small that worked for my daughter and I so I couildn't resist. There was still aisles full of Christmas merchandise, plenty of Christmas cards, Christmas stuffed animals and Christmas candy. I don't know if they will take further reductions.

Bed, Bath & Beyond ws not very exciting sale wise. I was there with my sister looking for bedding but of course, we had to check out the sales. They had one corner area in the front of the store with all the Christmas items and it looked as though they had barely sold anything. The sale price was 50% off Christmas merchandise. The only items that looked like they had sold out almost completely were candles and reeds. Reeds are these long thin sticks in jars that contain oil to scent the home with. Those had flown off the shelves. It looked as though nothing else had sold, the shelves were full. One particularly nice aspect of buyng the Christmas items at Bed, Bath & Beyond was that the salesgirl said we could use our 20% off coupons on sale items. I was surprised at this but still didn't purchase anything Christmas here. Bed, Bath & Beyond will lower their prices to 75% in by New Years they said.

Starbucks has a small area of Christmas items, not greatly reduced. They go to 50% off and never lower the prices more than that. It's still a good time to get something with their logo on it if that's what you want. I got the grandchildren the Christmas travel mugs last year so I didn't need a thing this year.

So , if you're looking for bargains, Bed, Bath & Beyond is sitll well stocked as are the local pharmacys. I don't think people think in terms of pharmacies for Christmas shopping. Most people go to the Malls or the major stores first.. Pharmacys carry wrapping paper, cards, stuffed animals and the like and can be good places to shop since they get overlooked.

None of these places had difficult parking and there were no long lines at the check out areas. I think shopping like this can save you wear and tear. I still recommend Target's 90% sale but wait as long as you can unless you really need a particular item. Happy hunting!