Ross Dress for Less Review and $50 GC GIVEAWAY

CONGRATULATIONS #13 AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG. PLEASE RESPOND TO MY EMAIL WITHIN 72 HOURS. Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope you will enter my current giveaway!

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Shopping online can be maddening sometimes. Yesterday I found the perfect gift for my mother-in-law but I missed the window to get $20 off $75 purchase by a few minutes. The promotion ended at midnight central time. Since the only time I have to shop online is after the boys go to sleep, that means I rarely make those deadlines. So I bailed on the gift in the hopes that the retailer will offer the deal again. I clicked on Cyber Monday deals for another retailer and that site had already reset to Tuesday. It's unfair that those who live in CST or EST get more time to shop than those of us on the West Coast (and yes, we have less to complain about than our friends in Hawaii). They get up at the same time so all things being equal they get better access to online deals. That is why I like to shop in actual stores. You don't have to worry about getting beat out by someone half-way across the country. I especially like to shop in stores where you know you're getting the most for your money. Ross Dress for Less is definitely one of those stores.

It's really quite ironic because even when I was one of those Easterners that had access to fabulous deals, whenever Stewart and I would come to the Bay Area to visit his parents for the holidays, I would always find my way to Ross. Shopping at Ross was one of the perks of visiting my in-laws. I still have the set of three springform cake pans that I got on one of those shopping trips. Yesterday, the boys and I had great fun going to Ross to pick up some holiday decorations. H wanted to hang stockings by the fireplace so that was first on the agenda. When I walked into the store, I was very impressed by the organization and the cleanliness of the store considering it was the holiday shopping season. All of the holiday decorations were in one area in the back of the store. We quickly found the stockings, which ranged from $5.99 to $8.99. The boys picked out the ones they liked. We looked at the other holiday gifts and decorations. They especially liked a certain pink starfish ornament, but I didn't think it would survive R's rough treatment this season (he's already broken three blown glass ornaments). There were also a ton of licensed toys of characters that H&R recognize from their television viewing on PBS and cable. Ross has a policy of not showing or discussing brand names so I can't reveal them here, but they are definitely on every kid's holiday wish list. Ross also had a great selection of children's books that I will keep in mind for the future.

For me, the quality of the merchandise together with the competitiveness of the prices for the decorations and seasonal gifts make Ross a better place for gifts than big box and department stores. If you're looking for stocking stuffers or office/hostess gifts, Ross has a variety of great gifts for $5, $10 and $20, including candles, gourmet food baskets, festive holiday serving dishes and more. The only drawback to my shopping experience was the long wait I had to check out. Granted it was a Monday morning, but there were only two cashiers open with 8-10 people waiting in each line. The amazing thing was that nobody left. I've seen people in other stores leave when wait times build up, but the value of the items they were purchasing must have convinced shoppers to stick with their purchases. Since inventory changes constantly, shoppers at Ross know that once they pass on a great deal, it will be snapped by another customer before their next visit to the store. Yesterday I went to different Ross location (find the closest one to you here) after I dropped H at school and found that store's inventory to be slightly different from the first store. So if you find something great, don't lose out! Random Mommy readers in the San Jose area will be happy to find out that there is a new location in downtown San Jose, in addition to the 46 other Ross stores in the Bay Area. Thanks to the generosity of my friends at Ross Dress for Less, one Random Mommy reader will have the opportunity to find some fantastic deals for him/herself with a $50 gift card. You can also enter to win a $500 gift card from Ross through their Facebook contest.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  Contest period runs from Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 5:01 PM (Pacific) until Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 11:59 PM (Pacific). Enter by leaving the name of your favorite holiday decoration, and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, making sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, it counts if you've done any of these so leave a comment for each one)
1) Follow me on Twitter
2) Tweet this contest (http://tinyurl.com/33w8zsn) and leave the tweet url
3) Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect by clicking on the sidebar
4) Like Ross Dress for Less on Facebook

If you don't leave a qualifying comment and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified. I reserve the right to extend the contest period. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose the winner. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and will have 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will go to the next place winner as decided by Random.org. This contest is open for US Residents only. A huge thank you and much appreciation to my friends at Ross Dress for Less for their generosity! Good luck!

I did not receive compensation for this post. I received a gift card to facilitate my review.