Everything's on sale at Blu Dot

Everything's on sale at Blu Dot Here's another "never seen before" storewide sale: Blu Dot's 20 percent off everything through Sept. 8. Shop Bludot.com or check it out at Roam (813 Glenwood Av., Minneapolis, 612-377-6465). Frugal fans of Blue Dot's contemporary furniture usually wait for the warehouse sales for better savings, but this is a chance at first-quality merchandise on sale. The last warehouse sale was in April. The next one could be in the fall, but it's indefinite. Sign up online for notification.

New thrift, consignment stores opening Thrift stores have rarely been busier, and new ones are sprouting up here and there. Savers in Apple Valley (7608 W. 150th St., 952-432-7263) opens today at 8 a.m. Grand opening specials through Saturday include free snacks and coffee along with face painting and balloons. Goodwill's new Bloomington store (7845 Lyndale Av. S., 952-881-2468) opened last week. A new store in Woodbury (10450 Hudson Rd., 651-731-7942) opens Sept. 19. Clothes Mentor (ClothesMentor.com) is not a thrift store, but its consigned items are reasonably priced and the stores are immaculate. Besides the Minnetonka and Maple Grove locations, a store in Roseville (2401 Fairview Av. N., 651-789-2880) just opened. A Burnsville location will open later this year.

Cheaper, greener printer cartridges The Costco photo department in St. Louis Park (763-582-9600, ext. 5) now offers inkjet cartridge refill service on HP, Lexmark and Dell cartridges. Other Costco photo departments are in the process of adding the service. Prices range from $8 to $14 for the service. The brochure lists 74 cartridges available for refills. Using refills saves 50 percent or more on the price of a new cartridge and minimizes landfill waste. Costco uses OEM colors, not universal inks, but it offers only a few variations of sienna, cayenne, magenta and yellow. Other ink replacement companies with local stores, such as Cartridge World (CartridgeWorldUSA.com), stock hundreds of colors with most refills between $15 and $20. Selected Office Max and Walgreens still offer refills too, although the ink selection is smaller than at Cartridge World. Office Depot no longer offers the service.

Jewelry outlet closing soon The ShopNBC Outlet (6740 Shady Oak Rd., Eden Prairie, 952-943-6780) is closing Sept. 5. Everything is discounted, including Moissanite, gems, silver and watches. The gold is nearly gone, but plenty of gemstone rings, men's and women's watches, diamonds and assorted jewelry remains. Manager Krystal Klecker said everything was at wholesale cost before the sale and now everything is 35 percent less.