A lot of times we get asked how we buy for the stores. Working in off price retail we buy differently than most traditional retailers. We scour the market constantly looking for exciting deals on current inventory that vendors may have excess on, past season inventory left over from the previous selling season as well as irregular inventory. To put everyone at ease on irregulars, we will not buy anything that has holes, rips, tears, stains, etc...generally it is a color variation that is off from what the vendor intended. We also will work with vendors occasionally to build product with them just like any department store would. While this is not our chosen way to buy goods, we do find that sometimes to keep ourselves stocked in basic items or to hit a trend correctly we have to go down this path. One of the final ways we buy goods is store stocks. So if a store is over inventoried or closing we can work with them to buy their existing stock. All of this is what makes being an off price buyer so much fun. You never know what you are going to find or what each day will bring. I have to run right now to finish up a few deals, but I'll spend the next few posts talking all about How I Buy!