Dedicated to independent shoppers and retailers

Direct to you from Janet Simons, author of the Colorado Smart Shopper and veteran Rocky Mountain News shopping columnist.

Wesco Fabrics, 4001 Forest St., 303-388-4101, which has been wholesaling decorative fabrics and home furnishings to Denver’s design trade for 64 years, lets the public enter its warehouse to shop each spring and fall. This year’s fall sale runs from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17. More than 25,000 yards of drapery and upholstery fabric, some made to sell for $80 a yard, is $3 a yard. Wesco also supplies furniture and home accessories for designers, and this sale provides a great opportunity to find discounted antiques, stone carvings, petrified wood, recycled exotic wood furniture, artwork and pottery, as well as hardware, blinds, drapes, upholstered furniture from C.R. Laine and Vanguard – even jewelry, scarves, accessories and purses.

And speaking of well-established sales, for more than 30 years, the Jeffco Action Center has been raising money for its many social programs at its biannual Beautiful Junk Sale. This fall’s version runs 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 15200 W. Sixth Ave., Golden. The 10,500-foot exhibit hall will be filled with jewelry, vintage odds and ends, lamps, dishes, home accessories, books and more. Admission is $2 for everyone 16 or older, unless you're particularly eager and want to spring $20 for early admission at 7 a.m. Friday. All the money from the door is designated for the food bank, while proceeds from sales support services of the Jeffco Action Center, 303-237-7704, jeffcoac.org.

Bargain hunters can find discounts of up to 60 percent through Saturday, Oct. 17, during last week of the Reconstruction Sale at Birdsall & Co., 1540 S. Broadway, 303-722-2535. Storeowner John Ludwig says these will be the final reductions on outdoor and garden items that are “one-of-a-kind, been here longer than we would like, scratched, dented or no longer fit into our inventory mix.”

For example, says Ludwig, there are “some wonderful little wind chimes made in the Pyrenees that were $79.95, and now they’re $43.95.”

Most the sale items are at least 40 percent off, says Ludwig, including “a Fiberglas birdbath in the shape of bird that’s just been here too long.” At 40 percent off, the $630 birdbath is $378.

Only the sale part of the Reconstruction Sale is ending; Ludwig estimates that construction will continue all winter. If you can’t find parking in front of the store, Ludwig suggests going down the alley to find ample parking behind Birdsall’s building.

For more information, go to www.birdsallgarden.com.

You never know what you’ll find amid the furniture, household items, craft items, glassware and clothing at Fall Rummage Sale at St. Michael and All Angels Church, 1400 S. University Blvd. The presale ($5 admission) runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, and the regular sale (no admission) runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 17, everything you can stuff into a paper grocery bag is $5; items too big for a bag are half-price, and everything you can stuff into the trunk of your car will cost $25 -- SUVs and pickup trucks, negotiable. Parking and the entrance to the sale are at the back of the church.

Janice McClure owner of the On a Lark gift store, 849 E. Ohio Ave., 303-766-3434, is tired of looking at her inventory, so she’s discounting everything for only one day. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, all the jewelry, furniture, baby items, vintage dishes and tableware, linens, greeting cards, T-shirts, perfume, soaps, candles and other locally handcrafted goods and repurposed items are reduced by 10 percent to 50 percent at the shop, which just three blocks west of Washington Park at the corner of East Ohio Avenue and South Emerson Street.

This e-newsletter is an effort to help both consumers looking for great deals and small retailers trying to survive against the Walmarts of the world. Please tell me about the wonderful stores, fantastic deals and amazing shopkeepers you know about by sending an e-mail to Janet@bestcoloradodeals.com.


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