Discount Hunting
July has already begun and so have the summer sales. It used to be that they began on the first day of July in all of Spain. Then, some communities advanced the date, and now they can begin almost at any time the store sees fit. Consumers this year, however, haven't seen fit yet the idea of spending extra money.
There are all types of consumers. There's the kind on an extremely tight budget that only buys clothes during the summer or winter sales. And sometimes only at the stores with at least 50% discount. These are also the people who fit into standard sizes and are rail thin. Then there's the people who see something they like in a store window and enter to buy it at a discount. There's also the person who is waiting for these days to buy a specific outfit. And then there's the person who wakes up and decides to go see what's up and generally buys what they will never wear because it was at a ridiculously low price.
I'm more the hit or miss kind. The few weeks before, I look at my summer wardrobe and then look at my tummy. Has it grown since last summer? Has it (oh, joy and fireworks!) actually shrunk? I try on clothes, see what fits, what has accumulated holes or unwashable stains, and then go shopping.
I set aside a few hours and check out the stores. My first disappointment is when I see that most things are only at 20% discount. And my size has disappeared. I try on sizes around what is probably mine to see if the manufacturer has switched numbers on me. No, they haven't. Or sometimes the largest size is ten sizes too small. I paw through clothes on the rack. An XL! I draw it out and see the manufacturer is laughing at me. An XL that is really an S. And then they complain about anorexia.
I continue through the store or go to another one. This place has my size. I enter and see that everything is designed for my mother-in-law's taste. And the Queen's purse. Thirty percent discount and the price is still over seventy euros? See you never, and I hit the sidewalk again.
At the end of a week, with an hour or two set aside every day, I might end up with one pair of the two pairs of shorts I need, and one t-shirt or blouse of the three tops I've been looking for. Some of them not necessarily to my taste, but it was either that or wear my old t-shirts with the holes. Because either everything that was my size before the sales began has disappeared, or because the things that fit me and that I like have a minimum of discount while what no one has touched during the season has maybe a 70% discount. And then shopkeepers say the sales were a success. Of course, they palmed off on people what no one wanted because it happened to be the cheapest things in the store. And some people cannot pay almost full price.
This is also the season in which stores hire employees. And then the government crows about how unemployment has dropped. But most of those hired in these two summer months will be unemployed come September or October, or whenever the sales at the stores end. Ir de rebajas (going sales shopping) is becoming more and more a thing of the past as people who have lost decent jobs are finding only temporary jobs that will pay the bills for a little while. There is no extra money to blow on sales. Most companies are supposed to pay bonuses in December and in July. Few do so any more, and certainly not to a temporary employee.
While for some, shopping during sales is an adventure in digging up jewels, each year fewer and fewer people will be seen with reams of shopping bags in their hands. Unless a shopping bag doesn't hang from their hands the rest of the year.
There are all types of consumers. There's the kind on an extremely tight budget that only buys clothes during the summer or winter sales. And sometimes only at the stores with at least 50% discount. These are also the people who fit into standard sizes and are rail thin. Then there's the people who see something they like in a store window and enter to buy it at a discount. There's also the person who is waiting for these days to buy a specific outfit. And then there's the person who wakes up and decides to go see what's up and generally buys what they will never wear because it was at a ridiculously low price.
I'm more the hit or miss kind. The few weeks before, I look at my summer wardrobe and then look at my tummy. Has it grown since last summer? Has it (oh, joy and fireworks!) actually shrunk? I try on clothes, see what fits, what has accumulated holes or unwashable stains, and then go shopping.
I set aside a few hours and check out the stores. My first disappointment is when I see that most things are only at 20% discount. And my size has disappeared. I try on sizes around what is probably mine to see if the manufacturer has switched numbers on me. No, they haven't. Or sometimes the largest size is ten sizes too small. I paw through clothes on the rack. An XL! I draw it out and see the manufacturer is laughing at me. An XL that is really an S. And then they complain about anorexia.
I continue through the store or go to another one. This place has my size. I enter and see that everything is designed for my mother-in-law's taste. And the Queen's purse. Thirty percent discount and the price is still over seventy euros? See you never, and I hit the sidewalk again.
At the end of a week, with an hour or two set aside every day, I might end up with one pair of the two pairs of shorts I need, and one t-shirt or blouse of the three tops I've been looking for. Some of them not necessarily to my taste, but it was either that or wear my old t-shirts with the holes. Because either everything that was my size before the sales began has disappeared, or because the things that fit me and that I like have a minimum of discount while what no one has touched during the season has maybe a 70% discount. And then shopkeepers say the sales were a success. Of course, they palmed off on people what no one wanted because it happened to be the cheapest things in the store. And some people cannot pay almost full price.
This is also the season in which stores hire employees. And then the government crows about how unemployment has dropped. But most of those hired in these two summer months will be unemployed come September or October, or whenever the sales at the stores end. Ir de rebajas (going sales shopping) is becoming more and more a thing of the past as people who have lost decent jobs are finding only temporary jobs that will pay the bills for a little while. There is no extra money to blow on sales. Most companies are supposed to pay bonuses in December and in July. Few do so any more, and certainly not to a temporary employee.
While for some, shopping during sales is an adventure in digging up jewels, each year fewer and fewer people will be seen with reams of shopping bags in their hands. Unless a shopping bag doesn't hang from their hands the rest of the year.
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