Bargain hunter’s guide to the Bangor Mall

By Erin McNamara

Posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2005, 12:00 am

As college students, we use our clothes to express our personalities, our tastes in music; to represent the fraternities or sorority to which we belong; to display our moods for the day. While these are all very important aspects of our respective wardrobes, there is one thing, as college students, that is overwhelmingly vital when clothes shopping – the clothes must be cheap.

Face it, we are all poor. At least we are right now. We owe thousands of dollars in school loans, have probably charged up a credit card or two, and are most likely making car payments as well. The money that we want to be spending on clothes needs to go to pay that chunk of our student bill that accrued when we picked up an extra class last semester and forgot to pay. Due to these money deficiencies, most of the time it can be hard to stay above water and still look frighteningly fashionable.

The best way to look good and not have to call for financial counseling is to shop the clearance racks and watch for sales. That’s why I’m writing this column – as an employee of the illustrious Bangor Mall, it’s relatively easy to stay on top of the sales going on. Once a week, I’ll clue you in to ongoing sales and clearance specials at the mall. Eventually, I’ll even cover a couple stores outside the mall, but first things first.

It’s safe to say that every clothing store in the mall has at least one big clearance rack right now. This is prime sales time – all the old fall and winter stuff is on the way out to make way for the new winter stock coming in. Right now, ending tonight, Monday, Jan. 17, Filene’s is having a huge clearance and coupon sale. I know, it looks really expensive in there. When you walk in and see all the Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and unpronounceable European brand names plastered all over the place, it can be intimidating. Next time, walk by the designer logos and go straight to the signs that say “clearance.” If you go in armed with their 15 percent off coupon – which you can clip out of the Bangor Daily News – you can find some articles of clothing in there that will end up being about 85 to 90 percent off the original price. Some of their best deals can be found in their mall entranceway, where they’re currently having a “sidewalk sale” – it’s a bit too cold to hold that outside the building. That’s where you’ll find the biggest clearance, usually from 60 to 80 percent off the original price, plus you can get another 15 percent off with your coupon. Most the items out there are high-end brand names, going for somewhere between $5 and $25. You’d be hard pressed to find anything there that you couldn’t get for less than $30. If you don’t make it in tonight by the coupon deadline, the clearance racks will still be there when you do go in later in the week.

Another great sale going on in the mall can be found at Payless Shoe Source. What a novel idea – a store like Payless, purportedly cheaper than everyone else in the first place, having a sale. All their Dunkman and Airwalk athletic shoes, for men, women and children are on sale now through the Wednesday, Jan. 26. This is a great opportunity to go get a new pair of gym shoes. Everyone knows that sneakers are quite possibly the comfiest shoes on the planet, so why not go stock up on a few extra pairs? You never know when your sneaker might have a blowout rendering you unable to walk through puddles, or when the sneaker gremlin might steal one of yours, leaving you with half a pair. Granted, that missing sneaker usually turns up under your roommate’s bed, or somewhere completely random, like down the hall in that guy’s room that you may or may not have wandered into last weekend during that party that you think might have happened. Between the time you’ve lost the sneaker and the time you’ve found it, you’ll need an extra pair. This week of sales is a great time to go find that extra pair.

That’s it for this week’s bargain adventures. Tune in next week for more fabulous sales, clearance updates and coupons, and remember to scour the clearance rack the next time you’re in your favorite store.