Often, they will also give some information about where different sale products are located. Before the doors open, a store employee will come outside and remind everyone of the rules (no running, no shoving, etc.). The best stuff goes fast so you need to shop for your top priority piece of gear first. At larger stores in bigger cities, however, there may be more of a crowd.īefore you go, make a prioritized list of items you would like to find. We usually try to arrive by 8:30 and have never had more than 15-20 people ahead of us in line. Most garage sales I have attended have begun at 9:00 AM. You will need to arrive early and there will most likely be a line at the door. It used to be that garage sales happened once or twice a year but they seem to be occurring more frequently, almost monthly, at stores in my area. If there is no sale listed, check back later. If the store has a garage sale event coming up the date and time will be posted in the grey column on the left side of the page. This page displays classes and events happening at that particular store as well as hours, location, and services offered. Click on the name of your prefered store to visit your store’s page. Then, search on the the map for a store near you. On the REI website, click the word “stores” in the upper right of the page. Luckily, garage sale dates are posted online. I have noticed that my local store does leave some very small flyers around the store leading up to the event but that will not help you much unless you are visiting the store pretty regularly. You will not receive an email or a flyer announcing the event even if you are an REI member. REI doesn’t seem to widely publicize garage sale events. All sales are final on garage sale items. Some items have never been used at all but have damaged packaging, missing parts, or tags removed. The tag on my recently purchased sleeping pad, for example, read “used twice, customer reported sleeping pad is too loud”. REI tags garage sale products with a special tag that includes the reason for their return. Therefore, many items at the garage sale have been used once or twice and then returned because the buyer decided that product wasn’t quite right for them. The retailer will accept returns for pretty much any reason for up to one year. REI’s generous return policy means that many garage sale items still have a lot of life left in them. If you aren’t an REI member yet check out my post about the benefits of co-op membership and see if it might be right for you. For garage sale events, REI opens earlier than their normal opening time exclusively for co-op members. In celebration, I am sharing my tips, tricks, and strategies for scoring great deals at an REI Garage Sale.Īt a garage sale, outdoor retailer, REI, sells returned merchandise at significantly discounted prices. Just this past weekend I received a significant discount on a new sleeping pad at my local sale. As a backpacker on a budget I have become quite familiar with the REI Garage Sale over the years.
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