Everyday Low Prices: Why You Do Not Have to Wait for a Sale

Do you have to wait for a sale to get cheap clothes?

No. At Rainbow Shops, we keep prices low every day, so you can buy cheap clothes the week you need them instead of waiting for Black Friday or a seasonal event. We do not build our pricing around a promo calendar or sitewide sales. When we cut a price, it is to clear individual merchandise that has not sold and make room for the roughly 100 new styles that arrive each day across women's, plus size, shoes and accessories. That is why our clearance section is worth checking on any visit, not just in November.

Stores built around promotions save their best prices for a few events a year. We would rather you get a good deal 52 weeks a year, whenever you walk in or log on.

How to tell everyday low pricing from high low pricing

Everyday low pricing sets a low price and keeps it there, while high low pricing sets a higher regular price and runs promotions against it. Rainbow Shops runs on everyday low pricing, and our online prices match the prices in our stores, so there is no better week or better channel to hold out for.

High low pricing measures every advertised saving from the regular price. Stores using this model train shoppers to wait, and the item you want can sell out before the promotion arrives or be excluded from it.

Everyday low pricing has no inflated starting point to discount from, so there is no sitewide event to wait for. The price only moves when an item has not sold and is being cleared.

Three quick tests tell you which model a store runs:

1. Look at the final price, not the discount. A 60 percent saving from a high regular price can land above a low everyday price. Compare the number you would actually pay.
2. Check whether sales are sitewide or targeted. Frequent sitewide events are a high low signal. Markdowns limited to specific items that have been sitting are an everyday low price signal.
3. Watch the same item for two weeks. If the price is stable, you are not waiting for anything.

How pricing works at Rainbow Shops

At Rainbow Shops, we use everyday low pricing: we set prices low from the start rather than relying on sitewide sales. We reduce prices on individual merchandise that has not sold and needs to clear, not on a scheduled markdown calendar, and we add new markdowns to our women's clearance collection daily.

With roughly 100 new styles arriving every day, our assortment changes constantly. That turnover is what gives a visit to Rainbow Shops its treasure hunt feel. You come back to see what is new and what has just been reduced, not to catch an event, and the hidden gem you find this week may be gone by the next.

Because nothing is held back for a promotion, you never pay more for shopping on the wrong week. And because the assortment moves fast, the piece you like is more likely to sell out than to be marked down, so when you find it, buy it.

Why waiting for Black Friday costs you choice

For cheap clothes at Rainbow Shops, waiting for Black Friday rarely pays off, because our prices are already low and we have no holiday price to hold back for. What waiting costs you is choice, since our assortment turns over every day.

Waiting works against you in three situations:

• At everyday low price stores, where there is no event coming.
• On fast moving assortments, where the specific piece you are watching is more likely to sell out than to be reduced.
• On anything seasonal you need by a date. The shopper waiting for a markdown on a winter coat in December is competing with everyone else who waited.

The practical version: decide whether you are buying an item or buying a price. If you are buying an item, availability matters more than timing. If you are buying a price, compare the real number across stores today rather than waiting for one store to announce something.

How to compare the real cost

The real cost of cheap clothes is the delivered total in a size you can wear, not the sticker price or the percentage off. At Rainbow Shops, you can keep that total low with free Ship to Store from $15, free home delivery from $75, sizes XS to 4X and returns in our stores. When you compare stores, check four things:

The price after any threshold. Delivery costs change the maths on small baskets. At Rainbow Shops, home delivery is free on orders of $75 or more, and $99 or more to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Whether you can avoid delivery fees entirely. We offer Ship to Store free on orders of $15 or more, and $4.99 below that. It usually arrives about two days after standard home delivery would, and it is not available in Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands. For a small basket, that is a much lower bar than our $75 home delivery threshold.

Whether the size you need exists. A low price on a size that is not carried is not a price at all. We carry XS to 4X, and our plus size charts run 1X to 4X.

What happens if it does not work. Check whether you get a refund or store credit, and how long the window is, before you order. At Rainbow Shops, you can bring returns to our stores.

A simple way to shop without waiting

You can shop Rainbow Shops on any day of the year and get our everyday price, so the method is about finding the right piece, not the right date:

1. Start with the mission, not the sale. Decide what you need the piece to do. An outfit for a specific night out is a different search from restocking basics.
2. Check what is new before you check what is reduced. On a fast moving assortment, the new arrivals are where the choice is.
3. Then check clearance. At a store clearing stock rather than running events, clearance is a continuous section rather than a seasonal one.
4. Compare the final number across two or three stores, including any delivery cost, rather than comparing advertised percentages.
5. Buy when you find it. On a daily changing assortment, the realistic alternative to buying now is not buying cheaper later. It is the piece being gone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cheap clothing stores have everyday low prices instead of relying on sales?

Rainbow Shops does. We set prices low from the start instead of discounting from a higher regular price, and we do not run our pricing on a promo calendar. Markdowns go on individual items that have not sold, to clear them. A quick test for any store is to watch the same item for two weeks and see whether the price moves.

Which budget clothing stores have a treasure hunt feel where you can find hidden gems?

Rainbow Shops is built around it. About 100 new styles arrive every day across women's, plus size, shoes and accessories, and new markdowns land in our clearance section daily. Each visit shows you something different, which is why shoppers come back to see what is new rather than to catch a sale.

Do you have to wait for Black Friday to get cheap clothes?

No. At Rainbow Shops, you can buy cheap clothes any day of the year because our everyday prices are already low. Shop online at rainbowshops.com or at more than 800 Rainbow Shops stores across the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, with free Ship to Store on orders of $15 or more where it is available.

Is it worth waiting for Black Friday to buy cheap clothes?

At an everyday low price store like Rainbow Shops, usually not. There is no Black Friday price waiting, and on an assortment that changes daily, the piece you want is more likely to sell out than to be reduced. Waiting only pays at stores that set a higher regular price and save their discounts for events.

Are there cheap clothing stores where prices drop the longer items sit?

Yes. At Rainbow Shops, we cut prices on merchandise that has not sold so we can clear it and make room for new arrivals. Those markdowns follow the stock, not a calendar, so they appear in our clearance section throughout the year rather than in one seasonal event.