The season with minimal festivals, June-July-August, is the season of discount sales. The thing about these sales is one would end up buying even if they don’t actually need it at the time of sale. Blame it on credit cards or yourself, it’s hard to resist when you’d see a good tees or shoes going at 50% of the price which you’d be spending at any other time. Few months back i bought a couple of tees at Nike, on discount, when i actually went there to buy a pair of shoes. I’ve also bought stuff at MRP, only to see the same thing going at a discount a couple of months later. Apparels, and shoes are the majority of stuff that sells best during sales.
There is a splurge of discount sales on all kinds of stuff in this season, newspapers on weekends carry more ads on these sales than news. I was contemplating on buying a pair of good running shoes for some time now, and i ventured out. The problem with these discount sales is that you either don’t get what you want or you don’t get them in the sizes you want, or the ones you like are the ‘regulars’ and don’t get discount on them. But, still one can manage to get good stuff at a discount if you have the endurance and patience to search.
In my first trip i went to Puma, Adidas, Reebok and Nike stores in Indiranagar. At Puma, i didn’t like any of the shoes but almost bought a pair of floaters. Adidas, Reebok and Nike in Indiranagar didn’t impress me much either.
Couple of weeks later, i learned that these sales would come to end in a few day. So, it was time to check out few more stores for good shoes at discounted price. On trip 2, Reebok, Woodland, and Adidas showrooms in Malleshwaram. Reebok had a lot of shoes, many of them outdated and i’ve been seeing them for few years now, unsold. Next stop Woodlands, ‘hmm.. not to my liking‘. Adidas had a couple of shoes which i liked but size 8 didn’t fit me fine. The sales guy took some 10mins to tell me he didn’t have the size i wanted in that model. Meanwhile, i almost bought a tees, and so did my cousin. :D Only to be stopped by no discount on that or no size.
Next stop, all the stores i had visited in Indiranagar earlier. Puma, again didn’t impress me. I liked a couple of shoes at Reebok, but they had sizes 11 and 6 only. I could neither shrink my feet nor expand it. Next stop, Nike on 100ft road. Wow.. they had lots of good shoes but no discount. I wasn’t willing to spend Rs.10,000 or more on a pair of shoes which would just add on to 4 other pairs at home. I liked a ‘regular’ shoe priced for my comfort but i wanted to check out other stores with discounts before i bought them. Adidas on 100ft road had few shoes that i liked but again not for my feet size. There again i almost bought a tees but stopped myself saying that the same one will be on sale in a few months.
Almost frustrated, i was willing to checkout the huge Adidas store near Infantry road. They have such a huge store, wouldn’t they have one good pair of shoes on discount sized 9? NO! Phew.. Since i was close to commercial street, i wanted to see Nike store there, but couldn’t locate it exactly. I was about to call my cousin when i spotted Reebok showroom, and walked in. Finally, there i found a shoe for my liking and size at 40% discount. :-)
The feel good factor in buying the shoes was more when i realized, the very same model of the shoe my team lead had bought it a couple of months back at full price. I saved Rs. 2600/- on this. The expression of his was hilarious. So, the moral of the story is, if you have the patience and endurance in searching what you want, you might get lucky.