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This is Off Price. What you may have missed at our February 09 Show

This is Off Price has its very own "Deep Throat" who's been coming to Off Price since the beginning. He/she has been to some good shows, and some not so good shows. The recent February 09 Show was one of the best ever. Whether you were there or not, here are some quality items you may have missed.

  • Liquidations from Mervyn's, Steve & Barry's and Goody's. Off Price Show jobbers scooped up quality shoes, knit tops and jeans from these 3 major chains.
  • Marbury's Shoes. Also liquidated from Steve & Barry's, K. Amalia (Booth #457 at the August 09 Off Price Show) out of Ohio had them.
  • Victoria's Secret goods were there.
  • More urban goods than in the past. There were a couple of great jeans values for the urban customer. Atlanta-based Wise Buys (Salon Row at the August 09 Off Price Show) had a large quantity of Academic jeans.
  • A weak 4th quarter resulted in an availability of spring goods at the show at lower than usual prices.
  • Licensed Socks. Available at the February Off Price Show at 3 for $1. Normally, you get 3 for $2-$2.50. 
  • Bottom Price Point Goods at your price. Apprehensive jobbers who didn't come prepared because of anxiety came highly motivated to move these goods.

My source is a retired chief merchandising officer for a family retailer with over 200 locations. He/she continues to advise the Off Price Specialist Center on show trends and buying tips that can benefit retailers and vendors alike. His/her observations at the recent February 09 Off Price Show also included the following buyer trends:

  • Retailers came Open-to-Buy. They were apprehensive about Spring and kept lean inventories, so they came open to buy and found some great values.
  • A lot of the smaller retailers who normally wouldn’t come decided to shop at the Off Price Show because of the economy and the show's marketing efforts.
  • The big value retailers showed up to buy – Variety Wholesalers, Forman Mills, Conway, National were all there. Variety Wholesalers, in particular, found some very good deals.
  • A Big Canadian group with 250 stores was in attendance. They came last year and had a great show. They had a great show this time because of the values.