Hi I’m Nikki from Fashion Finds on a Dime and I’m thrilled to be guest blogging on EA today!
I’m going to start off with the God’s honest truth: I’m a shopping addict. I’ve worked in retail for over ten years, starting at The Gap, then Express, then Pottery Barn, and eventually graduating to Coach. I can’t be certain my paychecks ever left the stores. After graduating from college, I got married and started a family. I was put on a strict clothing budget, which put a serious cramp in my obsession. It began as a mere $100 per month to spend on clothing for myself. This limited budget forced me to get creative as I could only afford to buy one or two items from the brands I loved. Through the grace of the shopping gods (and my husband), my budget has recently been doubled to $200. Today, I work as a merchandiser servicing brands such as Lucky Brand, Miss Me Jeans, The North Face, Pour La Victoire, etc., and I’m in stores on a daily basis. I don’t go in to just one store – I go in to many – so I get to see my favorite brands place new product, and put that same product on sale months later. This gives me an edge. I spot an item I like, and the strategizing begins. I am familiar enough with my favorite brands and stores to know how often and when they go on sale and, more importantly, at what point I need to take action and snatch up a great find. In my time in this industry I have learned a lot, but the main thing I have taken with me is this: NEVER pay full price.
Enter Anthropologie.
Anthropologie is a little tougher than the larger department stores. They have die hard shoppers (like yours truly), and you can’t wait quite as long for items to get marked down because they’ll go. That’s one of the best things about Anthro, you are seldom left wondering if you should have bought that cute sweater. Chances are if you didn’t, you aren’t going to be able to find it anywhere. What an edge, huh?
I went into Anthropologie this week and applied my shopping technique to the trip. Here’s how it played out:
When shopping at Anthropologie, I make a bee-line to the sales room. Once in the sales room (at my local Anthro in Louisville, KY), I rummage – hard. I prefer to do this activity kid-free (a rare treat), so that I can really dig. You never know what kind of deal you’ll find squeezed between the wall and the lower rack. I always peek at the price tag first. How much I love an item is almost always directly linked to how good of a deal I’m getting. I try to never buy items that are less than 70% off.
Here’s what I took to my fitting room:
I found more than I wanted to, darn it! This is almost always my problem with Anthropologie. After much debate with myself, I was able to narrow it down to these five:
I knew going in that I only wanted to spend about $50 (all that was left of my February clothing budget). So, it looks like one item is all I’d be able to get! My first instinct is to always go with the best deal, and I really love those AG velvet leggings. They’re slimming and really comfortable, but I just couldn’t walk away from that adorable Flocked Penguins Cardigan! Sometimes the love of clothes defies logic! Plus, it was the only one the store had left and it was in my size. Clearly it was meant for me.
Ah, here she is, posing nicely where she belongs on my closet door.
Well, this may not have been an amazing deal today, but what I love about Anthropologie is their 14-day price adjustment policy. Call them on the 14th day and, if it’s gone down in price, they’ll refund the difference. I’d say it’s worth a call (and I promise they’ll be hearing from me)!
Let me help you stretch your clothing budget as I show you how I stretch mine. Follow me at www.fashionfindsonadime.com or www.facebook.com/fashionfindsonadime.
Note: One more post to go today! Be sure to swing by around 7 PM ET.
