Midnight Bazaar Sales

Discussion in 'Shopping & Sales' started by Corie Henson, Aug 15, 2015.

  1. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    Starting in December, some malls here hold the so called midnight sales where the malls stay open until midnight, some even close shop after midnight. But it is usually held on Friday and Saturday nights. Aside from the usual stores, there are booths and kiosks in the middle of the aisles, giving one an impression of an overload of brand new mostly clothing items.

    Sometimes we go to those midnight sales not really for the discounted items but only for the experience. Malls here normally close at 10 pm and being open after that hour is like a phenomenon that people here try to sample.
     
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  2. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    That sounds like something I would enjoy. When I was younger, most of the stores closed fairly early, and I would get excited around Christmas when they stayed open until around 11p.m. I've always been somewhat of a night owl, and find it exhilarating to be outdoors when it's dark and the moon and stars are out. It probably stems back to my childhood when we'd stay up late on special occasions and made me feel grown up.
     
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  3. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I do not like going to shopping malls, and I do not like the crowds associated with the big sales either; so I never, ever go to any of those kinds of sales. I hate driving in the dark also; so the ones that are held at night would definitely be excluded.
    There are really not a whole lot of things that we truly NEED, and most of the things we just wish we had, we can live without; so spending money for something that is not a necessity is something that we usually do not do either.

    Amazon has truly spoiled me for most any kind of shopping except for a quick trip to the grocery store when we need something edible.
    I do like to go to the veteran's thrift store once a week when they have the dollar sales; but even that can be a challenge sometimes, especially if you try to get there early when they have the best selections.
    The thrift store always has one color of tags that they mark to half price each week, and then on Monday, they sell anything with that color of tag for just a dollar.
    You can get some awesome savings that way, because any item that was originally priced under $20 is now only a dollar. If it was priced over that, it is still half price, and the next week, they usually mark those down further until they do sell.
    My friend and neighbor, @Joyce Mcgregor , also likes to go for the dollar day sales, so we often go there together.
     
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  4. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I don't shop at night because I don't drive at night. I don't like malls either. I can't handle all that walking. I do some thrift shopping now and then.
     
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  5. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    The stores here do stay open longer during the holiday season, I like to go not for the sales but for the decorations. The malls are decorated so nicely, it makes you feel like you are in a Winter Wonderland. The traffic during the holiday season getting into and out of the malls can be stressing which is one of the reasons I try to go during the day time to shop and at least one night to see the decorations.
     
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  6. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    I'm with you on the decor, @Pat Baker. I used to work at the Galleria Mall in Houston, and absolutely loved going to work during the holiday season, which in retail lasts quite a while. My favorite time was early morning, when no one was there except me and a few other employees, and the place was all lit up and beautiful. I wasn't such a fan of the crowds, but at least they were polite, since they were happy to be in a beautiful setting, and enjoying their shopping trips.
     
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  7. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    That's also one of the reasons why we love to go to the midnight "madness" sales in the mall because of the happy atmosphere. The holiday season decorations and the Christmas songs pervading the air certainly uplift my spirts that I develop the impulse to buy, hahahaaa. But in fairness to the malls, their sales are real sales unlike when I was young, the sales are fake because the prices are the same.

    With the midnight madness sale, there are kiosks and booths in the middle of the walkway (malls here have spacious aisles) that sell novelty items that you don't usually see in the mall. Most of those small temporary kiosks have imported items mostly from the US and Australia. That's where we buy Milky Way bars which are hard to find here. Another favorite item of ours is the Walker chocolate candies from London. But unfortunately, it has been 2 years that we have been missing that plastic container of Walker.
     
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  8. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    There are several huge flea markets in the Houston area that I used to go to. One of them was an indoor market, which consisted of many booths inside a huge building. It could get overwhelming if you tried to visit them all, and there wasn't much rhyme or reason to what was where, so it differed from malls and stores in that manner. I do like the orderliness of knowing where to go for what, but it can be fun sometimes to stumble upon new treasures in our travels. Haha, Milky Ways are a favorite in my family, we all love them.
     
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  9. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    Now that you mentioned flea markets, there is this Sunday market that we go to in the nearby city of Quezon City. They sell almost anything - food stuff, cooked and fresh, fruits, vegetables, household items, plants and trees, etc. Come December, they are overflowing with Christmas decors. In the olden days, we would buy live Christmas tree - real pine tree that is quite expensive. We love the smell of the pine inside the house so we always have that for our Christmas tree. However, in the recent years, they had stopped selling that due to government regulations.

    For the decorative plants, there were lots of pointsettia plants in small plastic pots. They were all red, the symbol of Christmas. Sales of those plants are brisk in the early part of the month because it is used as decoration for the living room, beside the Christmas tree.
     
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  10. Krissttina Isobe

    Krissttina Isobe Veteran Member
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    :oops:That is interesting to have a mall that stays open till midnight. I think I'd like that if I had a car. I don't go out too much after dark for I ride the bus. Midnight at the mall sounds like a fun thing to have. Bargains galore is great any time!!! I think it is a good idea especially when it gets closer to the holidays to have malls stay open till midnight. The latest here malls stay open is till 10PM locally so far. How nice to have malls that stay open till midnight.
     
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  11. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    Poinsettias are very popular here at the holidays, as well. I've seen white, pink and red varieties. They are poisonous to cats (and dogs), so I don't keep any, but used to have a couple on the patio at a former apartment, that I'd been given as gifts. They are often given as gifts when people go to a home for dinner or holiday parties, so I'm sure some are re-gifted. Many of the large companies decorate their lobbies with poinsettias, also, and they look very festive. I love the smell of live Christmas trees. I have a few small artificial trees that I sometimes use, but I always love when I can get a small real tree, usually a table-top one, because it makes the whole house smell wonderful, and really makes it feel festive.
     
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  12. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    @Diane Lane, the poinsettia is poisonous not only to the dogs but also to people. The sap that looks like milk can make you blind. Fortunately our dogs are well-behaved and they seem to know what's not good for them.

    I remember the last live pine tree that we bought costs almost $100 excluding the delivery. It was quite expensive because of the metal stand that comes with the tree. Last December I had seen a live tree being sold in S&R for $120 but it's not the pine type. Although the sales attendant said that tree also has that pleasant scent, my husband declined because we prefer the pine tree with the needles. I hope this year we can buy a live tree for our Christmas tree. This would be the first time that we would have that in our house, our own house.
     
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  13. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    The last small one I bought was around $39, I believe, with an additional cost ($10-$15) for a stand, and I transported. I'm not sure if anyone here delivers, but I'm sure that could be arranged somehow, at a cost, of course. That tree was probably 4 feet tall. There are lower cost ones, but I wanted a nice full one that had a delicious scent. There are Christmas tree scented sprays and other similar products, they smell nice, and will do in a pinch, but it's really not the same.
     
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  14. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    It's actually exciting because it is out of the ordinary. There are times that the mall would extend until 1:00 am. Adding novelty to that midnight madness sale is the presence of food kiosks that sells native holiday treats like bibingka - our local pancake made from glutinous rice and some other breakfats items that you would eat while standing in front of the kiosks. From what I see, the mall is trying to recreate an atmosphere of a flea market. One advantage of the mall over flea markets, there are also flea markets open until midnight, the mall has a roof and is air conditioned. It wouldn't matter if it rains and the atmosphere is just right for the temperature.
     
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