Remember the Blue Light Special?

 As a mother of young children in the 1980’s, one of my favorite sales gimmicks was the “blue light special” at our local Kmart. It was created in the 1960’s as a way for store managers to draw shopper’s attention to slow-moving merchandise that was sold at a special discount for a very limited time. There was usually a ten-minute time frame in which the customer had to select their purchases and get them relabeled with the discount before the light was moved to a different section of the store.

 I’d be shopping with our two young children when I’d see the blue light flashing and I’d rush toward the area. I can vividly remember how I felt when I saw the light flashing: the heady rush of adrenaline, the sweaty palms and quickened heartbeat as I frantically perused the sales rack. It was an effective promotional tool, as I almost always found something. It was only later, at home, I might pull my purchases out of the shopping bag and be perplexed as to what possessed me to buy four shirts that didn’t yet fit either of my children, and when I looked more closely, weren’t even a style I cared for. I almost always experienced buyer’s remorse after my trips to Kmart. I was the hapless victim of a popular combination of sale tactic maneuvers; the urgency of the limited time deal and the illusion of a slashed discounted price.  I eventually stopped chasing the blue light, but I never stopped looking for clearance signs. I would succumb to many sales tactics in the ensuing years but falling for the blue light special was a rookie mistake; the “good deal” that really wasn’t.