End of Season Deals

Summer's coming to a close, which means that the crowds pack up and move away until next May. That also means that many shore retailers will do just about anything to get you to take the rest of their stock with you.

I checked out the Stone Harbor sidewalk sale last weekend, and it can be summed up in one word: bedlman.

You won't find the same kinds of mass purges now, but you can still find great bargains. I'm gunning for a trip to the Attic in Stone Harbor, which carries leftover stock of Mimi's and Suncatcher, on Friday. Last weekend, everything was $30 or 75 percent off -- whichever was cheapest. This weekend, if they do the same thing they did last year, everything will be $20. That's quite a bargain when you consider that some of their items starts off over the $300 mark. I wish wish wish that the Nicole Miller dress they have left was in my size. If it's still there this weekend, I might buy it and get it altered. It looks something like this:



And, no, I don't want it because of the Angelina thing -- I found this picture when I was looking for a shot of the dress. It's pretty, and it's summery, and it'll be good for next year. I doubt it made it through the $30 round, though. A gal can still hope...

Other spots to check out? Hoy's 5 & 10 in any shore town for souvenirs; Wave One Sports in Stone Harbor and Cape May for quality sweat shirts; and Sun Rose Words and Music for local books about the shore (last time I checked, my book was selling for 20% off). And if you have a favorite shore store, see what they've got left. It's shore to be a steal.

Another tip: keep your eyes open for yard sales if you're into that sort of thing. Lots of shore houses are cleaned out about this time.

I thought about writing a piece on the Atlantic City Outlets, but Leah Ingram (who's been known to pop up in Wildwood) wrote such a great piece on the concept of outlets on her blog that I'll let her do the talking. You can get great bargains at Atlantic City outlets, but I've had much better luck at the clearance racks at the Pier at Caesars in Atlantic City...in fact, I wrote about it last summer. You can check that out here.