J. Crew Clearance Center, Arden, NC...It Is as Awesome as it Should Be!!!

I have to be fairly quick in this post, but I definitely want to give you the highlights of my trip to the Arden, NC, J. Crew Clearance Store. There is a closer store to me in Lynchburg, VA, but that is still about a 2.5 hour drive, so I have never been there (but do plan on it someday...hopefully with some of my DC JCA friends). My hubby was down in Asheville, NC, for a conference at the GORGEOUS Grove Park Inn and Spa, and he decided that he needed his family around, so the three of us tagged along. :)

I certainly enjoyed Asheville to its fullest, and even got to go the very yummy Tupelo Honey while I was there...AppGal, you were SO right about its delicious menu, but I knew that at least part of the time I was there I would HAVE to go 20 miles outside of the city to visit the smaller enclave of Arden. I mean, yes, I did visit it mainly for me, but I also knew I would have my JCA blogroll place revoked by Alexis if I didn't go to this clearance center and report back my findings. So you all know, AppGal has been there before and did a very nice write-up of her experience, as well.

Turns out we had kind of different experiences while visiting. (Granted, AppGal visited at a different time of year...so that may be why she found less "deals" and I found less shoes to ogle.)

I found a lot of tempting goodies in my hour or so there. I have created a polyvore for you all to peruse so you can see the details, but let me put it to you this way...if you are ever in western North Carolina for any reason, and you are travelling I-40, stop by. It is worth the 20 extra miles or so off the highway.

Here are some things I want you all to know:

1. Your GPS can find this location (1 Clifford Way, Arden, NC). It is not that far off the beaten path. However, if on the way back to your hotel or location you request "no highways," you may very well end up driving on a mountain on a tiny-a** little road. Yes, this happened to me. Alexandria has very few hills. I was actually told by my realtor to avoid buying a place near a fairly steep hill (what we here in NOVA call hills) because of my fear of hills. It was an interesting drive back to the hotel. I obviously survived, no thanks to Miss "I drive these here mountains all the time" teenage girl willing to tailgate me on the entire drive on the mountain.

2. If you have kids, the clearance store has toys. Oh, yes they do. Thank you, very very kind people of this center for thinking of all of us mommies whose toddlers may recognize J. Crew (and shout "ooh, J. Crew momma" from the back of the car) but really don't enjoying shopping at said J. Crew. :)

3. Speaking of kids, they have crewcuts. Not very recent crewcuts, but crewcuts nonetheless. I bought three items. Two from spring 2009 and one from fall 2007.

4. They are NOT an outlet. Everything they sell is from the actual "J. Crew" retail store. There are no double diamonds, etc.

5. If you ever see a really good price for something on ebay, and it has a mysterious designation of "tag marked with a black line to prevent returns," the person selling it has bought it either from the J. Crew Clearance Center (Paisley Petunia, an Ebay store I adore, does sell these things, and if you look, they are from Virginia, so they probably buy their items from the Lynchburg clearance center) or from TJ Maxx or Rugged Wearhouse.

6. It is probably worth buying these items with the tagged marked to prevent returns, because the clearance stores do NOT do charge-sends, as one of my blog friends tried when she saw the great deal I got on the stadium-cloth Winnie Jacket. The two Winnies that I purchased (one for me and one for HeidiG.) had nary a thing wrong with them (and the other items--nothing wrong there, either). Turns out that sometimes the retail stores get returns and instead of going to the warehouse, some of them get sent to the clearance store. Why current items go there is beyond me, but, hey, it worked out for us in the end! I am sure some of the items have issues, but I didn't see anything on the items I looked at (and I am a very careful observer...I have to be frugal with my money now as a SAHM/sometimes substitute teacher).

7. One place you will see the "black line through tag to prevent store returns" means that the item may potentially have an issue is at places like TJMaxx or Rugged Wearhouse. I have seen items at these stores that are from J. Crew that have missing buttons or a seam that is wonky, etc. But that said, I bought a Super 120s Black two-button jacket in a size 4 at Rugged Wearhouse that had a button missing. That was all. And it cost $25. Down from $235.

8. The hours at the clearance store seem super-friendly, like 10 am to 8 pm on M-Sat., and 12-6 on Sundays (maybe...didn't check Sunday hours as closely).

9. The staff were very sweet and helpful. I think they liked my kids. :)


Here I am outside the store. I had to take the pic myself, so don't laugh too hard. It wasn't like I could get CW to take it for me. :) I am wearing the Liberty print button-down from last spring, the pewter one with the big florals on it. I saw NO liberty print items that day...sadly.

Untitled by dinagideon featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
J Crew jacket, $245
J Crew jacket, $178
J Crew hoodie, $70
J Crew top, $158
J Crew tote bag, $298

Here is the polyvore of what I did get. Note--the cashmere cardi is actually a paler, heathered silver color that is just divine with my skin tone (I normally can't wear greys very well, so I was pleased to find this). Another thing, that navy schoolboy blazer? I bought it in an 8, and the 8 is BACKORDERED until sometime next year. Crazy. And the sherpa hoodie? I had bought it in the same color and same size just last week, and knew it would be on my doorstep, but for $30, I knew this was a great price, so I just chanced it. Turns out it is THE SAME exact hoodie, just 40 dollars cheaper. Yes. That is all. I am returning the new one this weekend. The one with the black mark through the tag--it's the keeper for me.

I wish I could get to a Clearance Center every weekend and help more people out (HeidiG. seemed pretty happy to hear I scored her a Winnie for well under retail), but not in my cards...however, I will make sure that anytime I am on I-40, I take a tiny little detour to the west to Arden. :)

Questions? I should be able to answer sometime tomorrow (along with commenting back on my last two posts).