!!!!!!!!!!!! WISE BUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!
Now is the time to shop for the hottest Holiday gift items! Don't Miss Out! Here's the best prices we could find on...
Great new books: Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, and Dan Brown's Lost Symbol, in stock at Amazon! Click above to go direct.
Amazon announced recently that they were lowering the price of a new Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6e-reader to under $260 with free shipping, the lowest price ever. You can also pre-order the next generation Kindle, launched on October 19, or, if you're shopping for yourself, there is a limited number of refurbished models for $219.
DIGITALLY REMASTERED BEATLES BOXED SET
Amazon has the lowest price, free shipping and reliability. In stock.-
WHAT BARGAIN LOVER CLUB MEMBERS ARE SAYING:
lilly on We Blog. We Barter. We’re Baaaaaaaaaack!
Robin on Instant Karma
Jennifer Lohan on Instant Karma
Gail Braverman on Instant Karma
Kate Sullivan on Instant Karma
Apr
20
After the “excitement” of New Jersey, I was needing a big fix of New York — and New York shopping. First stop: Canal Street, in Manhattan’s famous Chinatown.
Long known as the best place to buy cheap fresh produce and Chinese herbs (Doctors feel your hands, ask a few questions and prescribe your cure), Asian decorative and fashion items and of course the best Chinese food in the city, Chinatown has in the past several years become the mecca in NY of knock-off designer items. Louis V, Gucci, Prada and Tiffany logos adorn items from silver jewelry and sunglasses to the mother of all knockoffs, designer handbags.
Up until a few years ago, before the police crackdowns, it was easy to find exactly what you were looking for — and if it were plain in pattern, the store would affix whichever label you preferred. Suburban women with huge shopping bags would arrive with cash to buy stick for bag parties for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t or didn’t know how to find them on their own. Now however, the business has changed. As you walk along the street, hardly any ” designer” items are seen — in the storefronts, that is. As I walked down Canal Street, I was approached several times by Chinese men and women whispering “Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, come with me”. I followed one of them into a doorway, up a dark and narrow staircase to the designer rooms, filled with bags of many colors, styles and labels. I looked, asked prices, and began to leave when they suddenly lowered all prices in an effort to make a sale. Outside, other people operated movable stores in vans, and it was easy to spot the lookouts, who, upon spying a police officer or other suspicious-looking person, gave the signal for the doorways to close and the vans to speed away.
This is nothing so flagrant as what I saw a few years ago in Rome, Italy, where knockoff vendors were set up to sell right outside the stores they were copying designs from! But Chinatown remains the standard, I think.
So here’s the scoop (in my humble opinion): 
The fake bags look good at first, but not for long. After just a little use, the linings separate, the hardware falls off and the trims start to crack. Anyone who knows good stuff knows the difference, so really, you’re not impressing anyone. Better to buy a nice $80 bag at a good discount store like Loehmann’s or TJ Maxx than two fake designer bags at $40 each which will look like garbage before you get to show them off.
Back to Chinatown, however…you’ll find a great selection of earrings, other jewelry, Asian fashion, home decor, scarves and more, without designer logos, at prices way below what you’d expect. I get so many compliments on the cheap earrings I have bought on Canal Street. I just say I got them in New York.
For more about bargain shopping, click here.
