subject: Shopping Closeouts And Wholesale In The 21st Century [print this page] When I was in college, I considered myself lucky to be within a short drive of two large outlet malls. One of them sold all kinds of closeout designer and name-brand items, and the other had everyday items and school supplies, at or around wholesale prices. They can in handy for just about every occasion, whether it be clothing myself and furnishing my apartment, making sure I had the right supplies for school, and most of all, for gift-giving.
My service club in college took on a Sub-for-Santa project, and we were able to make sure that a family with several children had backpacks for everyone, several pairs of nice school clothes, and even some pretty cool toys.
In retrospect, I don't know how much money I really saved. Taking into account the gas prices of driving to and from those outlets and the fact that the savings really only amounted to a few dollars per item, I probably only broke even. Just the same, it was fun to go, and fun to feel frugal, even if it was only a meager savings.
I may be showing my age a little, but most of this happened before the advent of the Internet. With the ability to shop online, outlet malls almost sound nostalgic. In the amount of time it would take me to drive to the shopping center, walk around in search of the perfect item, and drive home, I can now browse the web, purchase the item, read a book, watch a movie, or get in a few holes of golf.
The big fear that still exists with shopping online, especially when searching for wholesale and closeout items, is security. We ask ourselves if our identities and information are secure, or if they will be used for spam or other forms of marketing. A little background check on the web or via a consumer-based shopping site should provide enough information to let you know if you can shop securely or if you should run from a potential ripoff.
Personally, I would rather shop online. Rather than having to stick to my area, I can search internationally for the best deals. While it was always fun to head to the outlet malls, it's a lot more fun to save time and money searching from the convenience of my desk or laptop and use the remaining time for things that are both more urgent and important.
