In Catalunya, the timing and duration of the rebaixes is strictly regulated: they can only happen twice a year (summer and winter), with the specific dates being set by the Generalitat.Shops can hold sales for a minimum of a week, and a maximum of two calendar months, and must put their chosen dates on clear display.
Unlike in the UK, where the winter sales now seem to start as the clock chimes midnight on Christmas Day, here it is necessary to wait until after Kings' Day (Reis). This is January 6th, when the Three Kings bring presents for all and remains for many Catalans a more important gift-giving day than December 25th. So for anyone that way inclined, the evening of Reis is the time for taking a sleeping-bag down to El Corte Inglés to queue up for the first bargains. But be prepared for a lonely night, as locals are unlikely to get there until shortly before doors open on the 7th itself.
January sales apparently started in the late 19th century. The London department store Harrods held its first Winter Clearance in mid-January 1894, while in the United States the owner of a Philadelphia department store, John Wanamaker, created the White Sale in the winter of 1878. Wanamaker bought excess stocks of bed linen (traditionally white in colour) to be sold at a discount, to help linen-makers and the staff of his store at a time when business was often slow.
Oh, that retailers were so philanthropic with their discounting nowadays. However, their two main aims seem to be: first, to clear shelves of practical, warm clothes to create space as fast as possible for t-shirts and sandals; and secondly, get rid of over-stocked products that maybe did not sell as well as expected, such as mouse mats featuring Borat and Victoria Beckham's fashion book. In light of the latter, it's unsurprising that the first piece of advice from Montse Sagalés, Subdirectora de Atenció al Consumidor at the Agència Catalana del Consum (ACC), regarding shopping in the sales is to avoid impulse buys. "We always advise this, because although it seems that you are saving money, it's better to buy things that you need," she said.
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