Use It or Loose It: JCPenney & Kohl's

A new JCPenney recently opened about 10 miles down the highway from us. As an incentive to visit we received a $10.00 off $10.00 purchase coupon in the mail - only good during the three day Grand Opening. We also had a $5.00 off $5.00 purchase at Kohl's that needed to be used up. Since the two stores were in the same area we headed on over to cash in on such good deals.

When we got to JCPenney I wasn't surprised to see customer after customer exiting the store with bag in hand - nothing like getting $10.00 free to spend. When we entered the store I was surprised to see how posh it was - so very upscale. Glistening marble floors, lavish jewelry displays and colorful cosmetic counters were there to greet all who entered. And then there were all the store execs milling around shaking hands and eager to answer questions. You knew right off they were corporate and not just sale staff - they were older, wore expensive suits, and looked miserably tired.

Since we don't really need anything ourselves we decided we were going to use our coupon to find a Christmas present for one of the grandchildren. The young girl's department was the first area encountered. We passed up rack after rack after rack of Hannah Montana merchandise. Then there were all the new fall fashions. Tops for $30 and pants to match for $28 - yikes! Very pretty and well made but how can parents afford to buy school clothes at those prices?

Then we found a little alcove full of classic cut clothing. There were beautiful high quality pleated skirts and nice knit tops to match. They had plain but very functional cardigans and v-neck pull-over sweaters. And would you believe co-ordinating knee socks to match - lovely, just lovely. Hmmm.....strange that these clothes are limited to three colors - white, tan and navy blue. Wait a minute.... (this is where you envision that the light bulb in my brain suddenly gets switched on)...D'oh! these are school uniforms! No wonder I was so impressed. If only all schools required uniforms. Parents would save a gazillion dollars and it would help alleviate some of the peer pressure students deal with. But then, who would buy all those Hannah Montana tops?



We gave up in the girl's department - finding something for about $10.00 was impossible. So, on to the boy's department and surprise, surprise - we found shirts on sale for $2.99 and $1.99. We quickly picked out five shirts and went right to check out. After the coupon was deducted we only owed $1.99 - what a bargain!



We had high hopes of doing as well at Kohl's with our $5.00 coupon but it just didn't happen. We must have spent a good hour looking in both the boys and girls departments. It was a case of use it or loose the coupon because it was about to expire. We finally found a boy's tank top on sale for $6.00. After the deduction the price was $0.97. So, we ended up with six shirts for $2.96 or about 50 cents each. Wullie will get three for Christmas and three for his birthday.



Happy Dance! Happy Dance!