What to Buy on Memorial Day and Best Places to Shop

If you’re someone who loves the chase, sales wise, then you’ll fall hard for Memorial Day sales.

Often times, Memorial Day, as much as its touted as a sales day that is a can’t miss event, doesn’t have the same feel as a Cyber Monday or Black Friday, mostly due to the proximity of those events in relationship to the holidays and what is customary gift-giving times of the year.

Memorial Day signals the start of summer, and everything from do it yourself stores, outdoor furniture, running shoes and even the technology inclined persons can save huge amounts of money on a variety of items, some of the aforementioned ones and even things you might not expect.

Retailers deliver savings that begin as early as today and will continue through Monday, May 28 (Memorial Day) so as to give the consumer plenty of time to reap the benefits and battle the hustle and bustle that is traffic and consumerism working hand in hand for the next three days.

The numbers from last year’s Memorial Day would suggest that this holiday is right up there with the ones that are in and around the holiday shopping season.

The projected sales for this Memorial Day are around $500 per person, with 93 percent of that scheduled to be done in the big box retailers and another 50 percent hitting the online marketplace hard.^[1]

The 93 percent figure is a good sign for retailers who are always inclined to push in-store sales in order to not only tout specific sales but also that residual buying just by walking from one aisles to the next.

And while Mother’s Day was only a few weeks ago, and undoubtedly led to spending for moms, sisters and aunts alike, Memorial Day spending averages about $225 in previous years, suggesting that the 2018 projections are part of a larger economic upturn.^[2]

Consider too that about 41 percent of Americans take advantage of Memorial Day sales, so nearly half are on the prowl, and looking for the best deal possible.^[3]

Those sales figures of $500 per person mean more, too, when you consider the amount of travel that is done for the holiday. Gas, on average, is up to at or above $3 per gallon and rental car rates are about $60 for the day, versus any other time of the year with 40 million people traveling in 2017 on Memorial Day and more of an increase expected this year, even with the gas prices hitting a yearly high.^[4]

As far as where to spend your money, you’ll see plenty of individuals flock to electronics, retail stores in general (mostly your Target, Wal-Mart type fare) and focus on outdoors, appliances and clothing. Men typically spend more on electronics and less on clothing, while women will pick up the apparel slack and less interest on laptops and TVs.

Seasonally, TV’s are better served to be purchased in the late summer, early Fall due to new arrivals or in the winter during Black Friday sales. Same goes for laptops: they’ll be cheaper in August for back to school versus now.

That said, retailers are still pushing for sales on computers, smart phones and other “tech” gifts you may be in the market for this Memorial Day.

Here are a few products you’ll want to check for upcoming Memorial Day sales (and the retailers who have the best offers) that are truly worth your time, because let’s face it you can’t be everywhere this weekend:

Outdoor Furniture, Tools and Appliances

Retailers such as Home Depot and Lowes certainly come to mind when you think about the home improvement marketplace and the sector of shoppers who fall under the “do it yourself” marquee from one spring to summer season to the next.

Naturally, the Memorial Day sales are driven by getting outside and getting your pool open, planting shrubs and grass or making sure your outdoor space is up to par.

These store also are quick to offer deals on appliances, which wouldn’t classify as “outdoor” per say but are more inclined to get customers to take notice while at the store.

Lowes is offering 40 percent off appliances (who says you can’t add a stove or grill outside), and other outdoor driven “door busters” of sorts, including the always popular $2 bags of mulch (5 bags for $10).^[5]

Painting and other home improvement projects also see a rise in popularity, so Lowes also is offering deals on fixer-upper projects for indoor and outdoor, namely anywhere from $10 to $40 off paint and primer.^[6]

Not to be outdone, Home Depot is also matching Lowes with 40 percent off appliances, namely focusing on refrigerators, washers and dryers.

Home Depot also is doing outdoor patio as deals, too, with as much as $100 off certain table and chair setups, and up to 30 percent off others.^[7]

As much as we want to focus on the Home Depot and Lowes, other retailers come bearing the gift of discount on Memorial Day as well, namely Overstock.

Mentioned early was about half of the population will do their shopping online this Memorial Day, and Overstock is one of the more popular online marketplaces, and they’ll also get into the outdoor furniture game as well, with up to 70 percent off their entire Memorial Day sale price items, 20 percent off patio and outdoor furniture.^[8]

Other notable sales include Kmart taking up to 50 percent off a Kenmore Washer and Dryer set.^[9], along with Sears trying to usurp the Lowes and Home Depot patio furniture extravaganza with 50 percent off various items of that nature.^[10]

Home Furnishing and Goods

Spring cleaning started a while ago, but usually Memorial Day is the start of thinking about other home goods you might need, beyond the big ticket appliances previously touched upon.

Most of the sales come from home items (appliances) and kitchen supplies.^[11]

When you think kitchen supplies (since we touched on appliances), you’ll want to consider Target, Wal-Mart and online stores like Brylane Homes.

Brylane Homes is offering Memorial Day sales items that are up to 50 percent off, including outdoor and home furnishings and goods with the best of them.^[12]

Mattresses also are a big hit for Memorial Day sales, and with good reason. Deals on a better night’s sleep is hardly just a sales pitch but truly the real deal when you look at a variety of discounts being offered by versatile retailers or one that focus just on mattresses.

Mattress Firm has $250 off a queen mattress and up to $50 cash back, with 1800Mattress not far beyond with $10 cash back for online purchases of $200 across the entire site and Sears $35 off $300 or more).^[13]

Clothing and Cars

So aside from a little alliteration here, clothing and cars don’t have a whole lot in common, other than Memorial Day sales that won’t quit.

Clothing deals, for starters, can see as much as 90 percent off, and that centers mostly on summer clothing, bathing suits, footwear and anything else really from the standpoint of not only clothing but accessories too.

Some sales that are hard to pass on, footwear wise, is Finish Line, and their “end of the season” sale with 50 percent off select styles.^[14]

Running shoes typically see a spike in sales in the spring, with retailers discounting more as summer hits.

Summertime and Memorial Day also are marked by clothing of the outdoor variety, and Dick’s Sporting Goods is offering 50 percent off clothing and other outdoor items that might get you off the couch and enjoying the warmer weather (and looking good in the process).^[15]

Macy’s is all about Monday Memorial Day sales with discounts. They’ll give you an extra 20 percent off on Monday, along with dishing out free money when you hit a certain spending plateau.^[16]

You can’t overlook Wal-Mart and Target, as mentioned, for one-stop shopping on clothing, patio furniture, grills and all things outdoor, either.

Wal-Mart really is pushing the fashion, Memorial Day sale with up to 50 percent off clothing.^[17] Target has bathing suits that start as low as $12.^[18]

From clothing to cars, buying (or leasing in this case) is all about the big-ticket items and driving off the showroom happy. You’ll find leasing events across the entire fleet of vehicles from GMC to Ford and everything in between for more than 20 plus vehicles in total.^[19]

From big SUV’s to something more compact, you’ll see a variety of cars to choose from, with some can’t miss deal including the Mazda CX-3 or Hyundai Kona, both of which are just below the $200 mark ($199 to be exact), with Ford Edge $20 less than that and the larger expedition checking in at $499.^[20]

Memorial Day is a time to relax from work for an extra day, remembers those who gave their lives for a greater cause and enjoy friends, families and the other festivities, fireworks and get together that are synonymous with this holiday.

Sales run rampant, too, and retailers reward consumers with discounts that are anywhere from 50 to 90 percent off, but only if you’re looking in the right places.

The retailers mentioned are a handful of ones who are trying to gain business for those who are out and about this weekend, traveling or making it a point to shop based on sales that are ongoing.

You’d assume based on how the sales and retail numbers are growing in 2018 for Memorial Day to be a huge success in that regard for businesses who are promoting special offers and events.

Sales last month in April were up .4 percent versus March’s numbers, and 2018 has seen increase in retail sales of about 2.8 percent year to year; equally encouraging is a 4 percent jump over the sale time period last year (three month average between February, March and April).^[21]

This bodes well for what should be potentially a record-setting May, and a continued emphasis on a sales and retail driven economy.

But that doesn’t mean all products, services and retailers are fair game. While you’ll see sales from a bevy of reputable sources, some products are typically garner more discounts than others. For example, clothing sales dropped from March to April (according to that same report above) but are expected to increase from April to May based on the degree of sales you’ll see on summer attire to promote the season.

As much good news as the sales numbers show, retailer still have growing concern based on last year’s stats: May sales were “flat” versus April in 2017, suggesting more is being purchased but not more total dollars in transactions.^[22]

Still, sales that are out there for Memorial Day this year are aggressive and consumer driven, and that is always a positive for those shoppers content on spending and saving in the same breath.