Dollar Sale Fun!

Sometimes it's the little things - like getting something for a dollar - that just makes your day!!!  At Ms. Mulligan's, we recently held our second Dollar Day Event and what a blast it was for everyone.  There is nothing quite as much fun for a shopper than finding a great pair of jeans or top for less than the price of a soda (or just about anything for that matter). 
For weeks before the event, we began holding great pieces from our inventory that were ready to be donated so we could make them available again at this great event.  Then on the Friday before the sale, we closed the doors at 3pm and began reloading these items into our store.  I thought about putting up a couple of racks to hold all the inventory we were offering at a dollar, but realized there would be a mad rush to that one spot in the store, so why not spread it out throughout all the racks.  This proved to work out great.  Shoppers went to the rack containing their size shorts to find dollar shorts in and amongst the regular inventory.  It was like a little treasure hunt, and there were enough items marked at a dollar that it wasn't difficult to find at all.  We had about 2000 items up for grabs for the low low price of one dollar.  We open at 9am and by 9:15, there were more ladies in the store than have ever been in at one time.  (I was so glad the dollar items were not all in one place, or there could have been an issue)!!!
A few customers found items they had seen weeks ago in the store, but didn't purchase.  They were now getting those items for a steal.  Others were shopping for themselves, their mothers, daughters, sisters, neighbors, friends.  Ladies were purchasing 30, 40, even 60 items at a time!  Several shoppers came back to the store multiple times that day, bringing different friends with them each time.  And that's really what the day was all about.  Great fun, great bargains, and great publicity.  At $1 per item, even if all 2000 sold, after splitting the sale with the consignors, the store wouldn't make a huge amount of money.  But what a testimonial it is when a customer rushes home to show her friends a beautiful dress she just bought for $1 at a great new consignment boutique down the street!
The store closes at 7pm on Saturdays, but for this event, the last customer did not finish up until 8:45.  At the end of the day, there were probably a couple of hundred pieces that didn't sell.  So we left them on the floor for another week.  Customers who couldn't make it Saturday were still able to find a few deals, and some who just heard about the sale from friends were also able to get in on the fun.  It was a lot of work putting the sale together.  I was very lucky to have the help of my mom Sandi and daughter Jamie.  When it was over, we were all exhausted, and already planning for the next one!