Bargain Alert: Target Home Goods

I had to run into Target last night to get some stuff, just a quick trip in and out. So imagine my surprise when I cut through the regular home goods section to see rows and rows of empty and half-empty shelves. I had to back up and observe – empty shelves could be a sign of problems or new merchandise getting ready to go up. Upon closer inspection, a decent amount of the stuff left on the shelf in several areas had the wonderful red Target clearance stickers on them!

 (love the clearance stickers)

I scanned the aisle (now in full on bargain shopper mode – where I can switch into a wild cart wielding gatherer that would probably make my cavewomen ancestors proud) and noticed that the others in the section had that same crazed look in their eyes. What made it difficult to shop was that the clearance stuff wasn’t just segregated to the end of each aisle. They were mixed in with the regular merchandise that wasn’t marked down so you had to push things around and check boxes and bags to see what was and was not on clearance. (I found a couple people’s hidey holes where they had left something to come back for later. Hint – check behind the throw pillows!)

I walked out of the store with a duvet that was originally $99.99 that I got for $24.98, two matching shams that were $31.99 apiece that were marked down to $7.48, and a microfiber twin comforter that was $59.99 marked down to $14.89. Drapes and table setting stuff were also drastically marked down. In fact, I couldn’t find tablecloths, placemats or runners that weren’t marked down. I am a huge fan of the Fieldcrest linen napkins that are a dead ringer for the more expensive Pottery Barn version – and they were marked down to $4.98 a napkin.

(my new bedding - Score!)

In my expert opinion – (as someone who works in corporate retail) – I would say that Target is getting ready to make a massive change to their home section. They are selling down through most of their own “Target Brand” merchandise and quite a large portion of some of their branded items like Fieldcrest. Given that nothing has filled in the shelves yet, this won’t be a rolling change that you will just “notice” as you walk through. They would just have that stuff ship out as soon as they could to keep the shelves full. My guess is that they are about to totally rebrand and relaunch their home goods and that it will be big when they do it!

So, get out there and get some deals today! If you pick something up, be sure to tell me about what you scored!

(Note to the FTC – I am quite sure Target doesn’t want me telling people about empty shelves, but in case you weren’t sure, I was not compensated in anyway to write about this!)