Here in Barcelona, there are two big events of the year, which I look forward to like a child before Christmas; the sales! The first one of the year starts after the Spanish Christmas "Reyes" (holy kings) is over, the 7th of January and the second one of the year starts the 1st of July (summer sales). The sales will normally last during 2 months, but it is wise to come during the first couple of weeks, if not everything good as well as sizes will be gone.
Since the financial crisis, the sales have just gotten better and better. Now the clothing shops have to get rid off all the stock they have not been able to sell during the year and they want to do this as quick as possible! The only things you will find is not on sale is the newest collection in the shop.
I remember that a few years ago when the shops would start their sales with careful 20% - 30% reductions. Now, however, the first day of sales the most common sign is 50% off, but it can go as far as 70%, again from the very first day!
Then already from the second or third week (or sooner) you will see Segundas Rebajas (second sales), which means that the reductions get even more interesting.
My friend and co-writer of this blog went during the first week (this article will be followed up by one with photos of the bargains) and found some pretty interesting things:
In Mango we found that they directly reduced all their clothes to 50% and we found some pretty nice and cheap stuff.
In Zara we found that they have been more reluctant to reduce everything from the beginning. Clothes were generally reduced around 25%-30%. If you don't have your eyes on something you just must have, my advise is to wait until it gets cheaper.
In Riverisland (English high-street shop, recently opened in Barcelona) we got a pleasant surprice; on the fourth day of the sales they didn't only had most of the shop at 50% off, but they had also added another 50% of the already reduced clothes!
In Primark, where I normally don't find clothes reduced when I go to the UK during sales, they did actually have some offers. Not as many as in other shops in Barcelona, but we did manage to find some excellent bargains.
H&M had quite a lot of sales, but not anything of the interesting stuff. Was honestly a bit disappointed over this years sales here, because normally it is quite good. I guess this depends on the season.
Also worth mentioning is that it is not only the main street shops that have sales; also designer shops such as D&G, Burbury and Chanel have excellent sales - up to 50% from the first day.
Actually one of the only shops I have visited that did not have ANY sales was American Apparel - which I found quite disappointing since it is not even a designer shop.
This was just few of many shops worth visiting in the month of January or July should you be in Spain. But I warn you, you will not get much sight seeing done with these nice offers.
