The Consumer Game

Or perhaps I should call it "Angie's consumer game."

Everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. But I will never, ever pay full price for anything at those stores. It's ridiculous, the prices they charge.

One of my best examples, when I was traveling for Plastics News, was the suit jacket I found at an Ann Taylor in Las Vegas for $30, regularly $150. Seriously. I came home from that trip, walked into an Ann Taylor in Edmond, Okla., and said, "Can you source the pants that match this suit jacket?"
They could. The sales clerk found the matching pants at a store in Tulsa, also for $30, regularly $150, and had them shipped to me.
Moral of that story: I got a $300 Ann Taylor suit for $60.
I thought that was the best deal I'd gotten on clothing, until I walked into Banana Republic this past weekend and got an $80 pair of pants for $28.99.
But, to appreciate this story, you have to appreciate that I went to the same Banana Republic two weeks ago, looking for a good pair of corduroy pants. All of the corduroy pants were on the same sale rack, right? I found the pair that was my size, and I tried them on. They were not tagged $28.99, like all the others. They were tagged $80. But they were the same design, style, color, etc., as all the other pants on the rack.
So I took them to the register with the others that were tagged the sale price. The sales clerk tells me, "Oh, those are the only pants on the rack that aren't on sale, because they were ordered online and someone returned them to the store and we don't regularly stock them, and they're not on sale yet online, so I can't give you the sale price."
I left the store without the pants. That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. They were on the sale rack alongside all the other corduroys.
But victory would be mine. I went back this weekend, found the same exact pair of pants on the sale rack, and took them up to the counter. I got my pants for $28.99. Now, that's my bottom line.