THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 20, 1996 TAG: 9607200250
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WENDY GROSSMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 79 lines
Shannon Hardwick, 49, called Lillian Vernon Warehouse in March to get the dates of its annual clearance sale. Then she planned her whole summer around the four-day event, taking her two-week vacation from her summer job at the Norfolk Zoo to enjoy it.
She's not the only one who missed work.
When workers opened the door to the Pavilion Convention Center at 9 a.m. Friday, the line stretched out to the street. In 10 minutes, all 400 shopping carts were gone, and folks were dumping strangers' stuff out of carts and onto the floor.
Kathy Collins, 36, turned around from the clearance table just after another woman had whisked away Collins' cart, leaving her purple wicker basket tumbling down the aisle.
It was crowded, and the lines were long. It took an hour and a half for each person to make it through the checkout.
And the wait will get a lot longer, as the prices drop through Monday.
But this mega-sale for the thrifty is worth the wait, shoppers said.
``It's a great sale with new things - not like a garage sale,'' said fifth- year regular Carolyn Williams.
Another advantage is that you know what you're going to find. Just glance through the Lillian Vernon catalog - it's all there.
Those who haven't done that are pretty lost.
``I'm so confused,'' first-timer Sam Traider told her mother. ``It's overwhelming. There's so much stuff.''
But that's just why Antoinette Williams, 71, comes back every year.
``It's a lot under one roof,'' Williams said. ``I can do all my Christmas shopping instead of going store to store.''
Williams had been at the Pavilion almost six hours. Her husband had just taken a full cart out to the car, and her second cart was filling up fast.
Candie Driskell, 40, never misses the sale - for the goods or the entertainment.
``I get a kick out of watching these husbands. They run up there and get stuff for their wives,'' Driskell said, pointing to a guy excavating wicker baskets. ``Usually women aren't as aggressive.''
Tom Morwick, 52, wasn't having as much fun.
``I just want to kill somebody,'' Morwick said, his blue eyes steely beneath his red ballcap. ``I've never seen so many impolite people in my life. You go to look at something, and they're pushing you and shoving you around with their carts.''
But that's all part of the fun, Williams said.
``I don't mind the pushing and shoving - it's exciting,'' she said, rushing to the kitchenware.
On a more peaceful aisle, away from the clearance merchandise, 8-year-old Russel Rudman sat cross-legged in a cart eating a large tub of buttery popcorn. Parked next to him was his 4-year-old brother, Lee, munching on a hotdog.
About five minutes later, their mother, Christine Rudman, returned, trying on a Christmasy vest. She had a lot of shopping to do - last year she spent more than $1,000.
``I cleared out Christmas for everybody and birthdays for all year,'' Rudman said.
She just loves hunting through the Halloween costumes, fondue pots, miniature briefcases and all sorts of Lillian Vernon's original gifts.
But the thing Rita Stryker, 33, of Chesapeake came for was the surprise box. She plunked down $20 apiece for two boxes of stuff she'd never seen. Each is valued at $100, but the one she got last year had more than $200 worth of stuff. She'll be back Monday when the prices are slashed to their lowest.
This is different than a clearance sale at the mall. People like Hardwick, who can't stand malls at all, were having a blast.
Shopping's ``usually a real bore'' for her. But going through the clearance tables here was fun, she said.
``You pick it up, you put it back, you pick it up, you put it back, and then you buy what's left in your cart,'' Hardwick said. She picked up a rug off the clearance table. It was $25.
She threw it back. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA, The Virginian-Pilot
T.J. Sparks, 8, gets an early start on Halloween as he tries on a
costume at the Lillian Vernon clearance sale on Friday in Virginia
Beach by CNB