As I've said before I spent the first four and a half years of my working life at Spotlight. If I had stayed another six months I would have had a five year service badge at 20. I've learnt a few things during my time there and learnt how to get the most for my money and so I thought I would share some of my tips with you.
Check out the remnants
My local store seems to go through stages with the quality of their remnants. Sometimes they are awesome, other times they are awful. Go for a dig, some good stuff can end up pushed right to the bottom of the container. I ended up with 1m of fleece for jumpers reduced to $4. It had a mark on the inside but I managed to cut around it and I ask myself if it would have really mattered anyway. From that 1m I got jumpers for two of my nephews and they turned out to be the cheapest jumpers I've ever made. I also recently got some lycra down to $2/m, talk about bargin! When I was last at Spotlight I was talking to one of the team members and she mentioned that (in my local store anyway) remnant piece size to up to 2m! That's a totally usable piece!
Dig through the clearance table
Just like the remnant bin good stuff at the clearance table can end up at the bottom or the back. Go digging. I have often ended up kneeling on the floor digging through the bottom shelf to find the good stuff. I'd probably just recommend not wearing a skirt for this activity!
Check the tags
So you've found the fabric you want, and it's had a price increase? It's always the way right? Check the tags. The price tags have to be changed by hand it one may have been missed. Grab that one and take it to the counter. They have to give it to you for that price. I did this recently with some netting, the normal price is now $12.95, I found a roll still marked at $7.95. I combined this with their 30% off storewide sale and got it for the bargin price of $5.67/m! That was less than half the normal price. Worth checking a few rolls if its going to save you $$$.
Check the shelves
I went in the other day looking for stretch lace. I wasn't fussy about colour or design I was really only concerned about price. I began my search a little disheartened when most of the lace was $25/m or more! However I persisted and checked the prices on all the rolls and found 2 rolls at $6/m and another at $4. Now by rights these should have probably been on the clearance table but they were just in the shelves. It is worth checking in the place where the fabric you want normally lives and seeing if someone hasn't been paying attention when they were putting fabric away you might just find a bargin.
Anyway, I hope that helps you on you're next shopping trip to Spotlight :)
Emma