lifestyle

"This is a sale for young women who are trendy and skinny," said stylist Gwen Leeds as she checked out the goods at Mode's first-ever warehouse sale. The sale runs Feb. 9-11 and Feb. 15-18 at 4416 Excelsior Blvd, in St. Louis Park.

Everything is $10 to $40, including True Religion, Splendid, Ella Moss, Diane von Furstenberg, Ya Ya, Junk Food tees, Trina Turk, James Perse, 7 for All Mankind and Cynthia Vincent. Dresses that were originally up to $700 (now $40) are popular sellers.

It's a much bigger sale than at the Maple Grove location with more than 4,000 units in St. Louis Park. Much of the stock is discounted 90 percent.

There are only a few fragrances and cosmetics left this week, including Chloe perfume, but Leeds said that next week will include Laura Mercier cosmetics, Deborah Lippmann lipsticks, and Calvin Klein fragrances. That sale starts Wednesday.

Sizes range from XS to large, but even the large sizes are on the small side. Women's premium denim comes in waist sizes 24 to 32.

Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The"Fix It or Forget It" article about repairing or replacing electronics and appliances in the Strib Wednesday discusses how difficult it is to find a repair shop for something as common as a toaster.  Here is some additional info about making appliances last longer. Tang? Who knew?

Reading the owner’s manual before operating a gadget or appliance is like being told by a parent to finish your broccoli before dessert. As adults, most of us go right to dessert by stuffing the owner’s manual in a drawer until there’s a problem. But taking a few minutes to read the  “care and maintenance” section for tips can keep an appliance operating longer. Appliance repairmen shared a few tricks of the trade to keep a few more bills in your pocket instead of theirs.
 
: Joe Gagnon, author of the “Appliance Doctor,” recommends adding Tang powder to the dishwasher to reduce soap buildup and hard water deposits that can clog sprayer arms. To start, run the sink faucet until the water is hot. Turn on the empty dishwasher and let it run six or seven minutes . Open the door and pour 12 ounces of Tang in the water on the bottom of the dishwasher. Shut the door and let it continue its cycle. It’s an inexpensive fix to try if your dishes aren’t getting clean, but Chris Hall of RepairClinic.com thinks it’s not likely to make a big difference.
 

Dishwasher

He recommends checking the owner’s manual for instructions on cleaning out the filter usually located in the center of the dishwasher bottom. Use a gentle scouring pad, toothpicks to clean the spray arm holes, and some cleanser to clean caked-on residue.
 
Washing machine: Take heavy, bulky items such as rugs, blankets or comforters to the big machines at a laundromat. Heavy items are a killer on washing machines said Mark Allen, owner of Big John’s appliance repair in Minneapolis.
 
Clothes dryer: Most of us know to clean the lint screen after each load, but go one step further. Several times a year, remove the lint filter and sprinkle a small amount of water on it. If the water beads up, gently scrub the filter to remove buildup from dryer sheets and fabric softeners. “You can cut 10 to 15 minutes off your dryer time with a clean filter,” Gagnon said.

Rather than use a dollar bill to check for air leaks around the door gasket, wait until dark, put a lit flashlight in the fridge, turn off all the lights in the room, and hope that you can’t see the light. In areas where you can, take a hair dryer, heat the seal, and gently stretch it outwards. Be careful not to burn the plastic.

Dehumidifiers:  A clogged filter can cause a unit to overheat, but cleaning the filter in newer models seems to be a well-kept secret. Part of the problem is manufacturers who “hide” the filter so that you have to take out the water reservoir and reach underneath to “feel’ for the filter lip to pull it out. If you don’t have the appliance manual, call the manufacturer to ask if your model has a filter.
 
Snow blowers and lawn mowers: Use ethanol-free gasoline, also called non-oxygenated and stabilizers such as Seafoam. Eighty percent of repairs are due to gasoline with ethanol left in a mower or blower for a month or longer, said Mark Toomey of Robbinsdale Marine. For a list of stations selling non-oxygenated fuel, go here.  Start a mower or blower every couple of weeks for best performance unless the gasoline is drained.  

Your tips for making appliances last longer?

Refrigerator:

Now that the winter is shockingly mild and dry, many of us assume that next winter will be more of the same. If you believe that, then there's no reason to check out

the snowblowers now on sale at Menards. 

If you believe instead that next winter could be another dose of sore backs, parking restrictions and ice dams, then head to Menards where nearly all snowblowers are on clearance, including single and two-stage models by MTD, Poulan and Murray.You can save $60 to $200 on most models. That might sound paltry, but snowblowers typically aren't a high profit margin item, "Taking $25 off a snowblower might be half our profit," said Mike Frattalone of Frattalone Hardware stores. 

Menards is offering discounts that probably won't get much better until March. But there is one opportunity coming sooner: The Richfield location will begin its "closing for remodeling" later this month. One employee said the closing sale will start Feb. 18. That means everything in the store will be an additional 10 or 15 percent off, including the snowblowers. 

(FYI, some departments such as lighting are already gearing up for the closing sale by discounting display models 25 percent now.)

The Home Depot near Menards in Bloomington has not begun to discount its snowblowers yet. But don't let that discourage you from making an offer. After calling the Home Depot on New Brighton Boulevard. in Minneapolis, a manager asked which model had my interest. "Ariens," I said, knowing that Consumer Reports rated most of them highly in its February issue. "Come in in and make an offer on a floor model" I was told. Apparently, it's a lot harder to send back floor models than the ones in the box. Plus, you don't have to pay extra to have it assembled. Make any offer you want, but I'd start the bidding at 15 percent less than sticker. 

By the way, you might want to reconsider if you're looking at the Poulan Pro 21-inch Single Stage on sale at Menards for $299, regularly $399. It gets the lowest overall score of the 33 blowers rated in Consumer Reports. It received poor ratings for snow removal speed, plow piles and distance. Surface clean, controls and handling were rated average.

You'll have less luck with clearance sales at smaller, independent dealers. Most can return the boxed blowers to the manufacturer. Or sometimes a manufacturer will take them back to sell them in areas with a lot of snow (think Denver). But check Frattalone's too. Some of the models are already on sale. Best of all, the selection is still good too, said Frattalone.

JC Penney is giving many shoppers exactly what they say they want: Everyday low prices instead of frequent sales. Many shoppers say that if an item goes on sale every month or so, why not just leave the item at an

everyday low price, since that appears to be the real price anyway?

It's an interesting strategy created by JCP's new CEO Ron Johnson. A former Apple executive, Johnson saw how effective Apple's "no sales" formula worked for them. He noticed that Penney's had 590 separate sales last year with nearly three quarters of its products selling at discounts of 50 percent or more, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Its new strategy involves red, white and blue sales. Prices marked in red are everyday low values (40 percent off), white signifies month-long sale prices (seasonal, such as jewelry for Valentine's Day) and blue indicates best prices, which are offered the first and third Friday of each month. For example, in today's sale, winter coats, already marked 40 percent off, get an additional discount.

Kathy Miller of Bloomington, who shops Herberger's and Penney's, isn't so sure about the change. "I like a sale," she said. "Otherwise, it loses its impact and intrigue." Miller's comments probably don't seem logical to someone who doesn't want to have to wait for a sale, but she's on to something. Without the advertising and the urgency to shop before it's over, a shopper may not go in at all. The sale reminds our heads that we desire something. Everyday low pricing translates to "out of sight, out of mind."

Johnson also plans physical changes to the stores' dowdy, aging image. Stores will be departmentalized at the expense of JCP's private labels, which will be curtailed. That means that brand names will have designated areas. Let's hope that putting designers into their separate areas, which Macy's, Kohl's and Herberger's are already doing, also includes a facelift.

Comparing Penney's and Herberger's at Southdale earlier this week, I noticed brighter colors, brighter lights, faster music, and a lot more shoppers at Herberger's. I might attribute that to the newness of Herberger's (its Southdale store opened late last year), but why aren't Penney's TV ads for its new concept bringing in customers yet? And where is the celebration of the new concept within the store? There were a few signs near customer service describing the changes, but otherwise nothing. The ceilings, store displays and racks were sign-less.  

Maybe this new concept is getting what retailers call a "soft opening." The whole pricing strategy is a bold concept, and JCP's advertisements reflect that, but nothing in the store looks bold and exciting yet, except the prices. 

Let's hope Penney's makes this work, but they've got a long way to go. Will the everyday low prices bring you to Penney's?  

Consumer experts have released their best and worst deals for shoppers in February. But rather than accepting their tips at face value, let's take them to task. 

TipHero has cameras on the list of best bargains in February. Retailers start to clear out last year's models as new models released at the Consumer Electronics Show last month will start hitting stores in March and April.  Dealnews said that the Feb. bargains are hit and miss and may not be as good as the ones in November and December.

It sounds as if the quality of the deal depends on the camera. National Camera Exchange is currently selling the Nikon Coolpix S3100 for $79, which is as low as anything online. Its Black Friday price was $100, said Mike Pazandak, manager at the Golden Valley National Camera Exchange. he said that NCE's February deals are good ones, and they don't get better in March or April when the new models arrive. "Vendors want to have the old models cleared out before the new ones arrive," he said. "Otherwise new models would be competing with lower-priced older models." Pazandak sees savings of $30, $50 or $80 or various models. Bottom line: Shop around. Not every camera will be at a great price, but many will be.

Winter coats: There's no straddling the fence on this one. February is a great time to buy a winter coat. And this year is even better than most year's, because Minnesota's winter has been so mild. That means stores are overstocked and ready to deal. Sure you can buy a coat in January, but now it's time to make way for spring jackets and that means

retailers have to bite the bullet. Bottom line: Go for it.

Chocolate: Wait until the 15th and you can buy enough to supply Willy Wonka,  You can choose brand name candy at discounters such as Target and Wal-Mart or drug stores such as CVS or Walgreens. Most will discount it 50 percent on the 15th. Target usually increases the discount to 75 percent a few days after that sometimes clears it out at 90 percent off a week later. Anything with a valentine package gets the discount. If you want higher-end cocoa, try Chocolat Celeste in St. Paul, which occasionally discounts some of its chocolate on the 15th. Bottom line: Hoard away.

Tablets: If the rumors about the release of iPad 3 at the end of February are true, said Dealnews, expect nice discounts  on the iPad2 from resellers as well as refurbished iPad 2s from Apple. Bottom line: Wait until the release of iPad 3 for iPad2 deals.

Snowblowers: The winter of 2011-12 has yet to dump a snowfall worthy of a blower. That alone could make snowblowers a bargain this year. But we're also coming off last year's near record snowfall. That would make a dry February an ideal condition for markdowns by the end of the month. Bottom line: Shop now for a model you like, and

then lie in wait for a bargain at the end of the month, assuming we don't have a major snowstorm soon. 

TipHero and Dealnews also mention prom dresses, boats, laptops and big screen TVs as potential bargains. Anything you wait to buy on sale or clearance  in February that wasn't mentioned?  

Digital cameras: