The Fourth of July is a time to bust out the fireworks, grill up some hot dogs, and celebrate our nation’s birth — and, if you find the time, to do a bit of shopping.
In terms of deals, Independence Day isn’t typically as awesome as Memorial Day, but it is unique; July 4th sales offer a rare opportunity to get discounts on items while they’re still in season. Retailers will need to turn their attention to the back-to-school rush at the end of summer and thus are eager to clear out summer items early. Thus, Fourth of July sales are a great time to take advantage of those markdowns.
This year, America’s birthday falls on a Thursday, which means we can probably look forward to Fourth of July sales starting early in the week and stretching through the weekend — more time for patriotic shopping! To find out what you can expect from this year’s crop of Independence Day sales, we assembled this guide based on deals from 2012.
Grill, Baby, Grill
If you’ve been waiting to buy a new grill, Independence Day may be the time to bite into a deal. Last year around the Fourth, we saw an average savings of $75 on grills, with the biggest savings appearing on on gas grills, priced up to $160 off. Before you buy a new grill though, defintely check out our tips for buying a gas grill. You’ll see the best discounts on grills from sales at stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, andWalmart.
Snatch Up Summer Apparel
In the mood to pick up some new cool summer clothing and accessories? The Fourth of July is one of the savvy fashionista’s favorite holidays because for many retailers, this holiday marks the official start of the summer apparel clearance season. This means shoppers can grab the best summer garb while it’s still actually appropriate to wear often at steep discounts. During last year’s Independence Day sales, merchants like Express, Nordstrom, 6pm, and Gap took up to 62% off on average. Even better, many stores offered stacking coupons that reduced prices an average of an extra 29% off sales. In fact, some stores even slashed an extra 50% off its clearance racks.
Continued Price Drops on Ivy Bridge Laptops
As we previously mentioned, Intel’s new fourth-generation line of Haswell CPUs has lead to a rash of all-time low prices on laptops equipped with Ivy Bridge processors. Since the Haswell launch on June 4 (and as of this writing), a staggering 21% of new, previous generation Ivy Bridge-equipped laptops we’ve listed have been Editors’ Choice deals. And when the July 4th rolls around, we expect that downward price trend to continue. Last year, Dell and Lenovo took up to 45% off select new and refurbished notebooks, while Staples retail stores took $100 off laptops and desktops. Of course, we list tons of individual laptop deals every day, so your best bet is to set up an email alert and let the build you want land in your inbox.
Patience Rules on the Patio
Depending on what part of the country you’re in, July weather is either gloriously sunny or the reason they invented mint juleps and A/C. Even if the patio is calling your name, you should hold off on buying any newpatio furniture for the time being — Independence Day sales on these outdoor items can be disappointing. For example, last year Target took up to 40% off patio furniture a few days before the holiday. A couple weeks later, we saw another outdoor furniture sale from the merchant that took up to 53% off. In fact, we didn’t start seeing the biggest discounts on these items until late August last year, so it’s best to put off any patio furniture purchases until the weather cools down.
This Fourth of July, whether you’re getting your patriot on by setting off fireworks or reciting the Declaration of Independence, be sure to take time to revel in the deals. Trust us, our forefathers loved a bargain, too!
Guest Post By Marcy Bonebright, dealnews Senior Staff Writer
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