First a little housekeeping: Those of you who get the Shop Tart’s e-mails may have noticed you now have to click on the title of the post to see the full entry for that day. Those of you haven’t noticed, well, you now have to click on the post to see the full entry for the day. If you don’t get the Shop Tart’s e-mails, why not subscribe?

Now on to more interesting things… In case you haven’t heard, it’s New Year’s Eve. The Shop Tart hopes you have fabulous plans already! The Free Times did a great job of summing up the options. A lot of places no longer have spots available, but it’s worth giving your favorite a call, as people do cancel. In fact, it’s worth showing up at the last minute to see if you can take the place of a no-show. Speaking of, don’t be a no-show. There are people who can’t decide what they want to do and make reservations all over town, taking spaces the rest of us might like and cheating the restaurant out of a chunk of money. Making multiple reservations, in the Shop Tart’s most humble opinion, shows an unattractive lack of confidence. How hard is it to commit to a good time? They’re all bound to be fun - the company is always more important than the locale, n’est-ce pas? - so just pick one!

Company is more important than locale, but your outfit trumps both. The Shop Tart has planned entire parties solely for the purpose of debuting a new look and she’s not ashamed to admit it (well, maybe a little ashamed, but she wants you to realize you are not the only one obsessed with your appearance above all others!) So, what are we wearing? The Shop Tart will rock a jumpsuit and sparkly heels. She’s going for the “Hot 70’s Housewife Out on the Town” look. Wish her luck in the “hot” department. And wish her wisdom on the jumpsuit decision; she’s waffling. A jumpsuit? Seriously? We’ll see.

Don’t forget your New Year’s Resolutions. Resolve to keep them this year. Resolve to make keepable resolutions. The Shop Tart is considering the following, but hasn’t committed, so don’t get too excited:

1. She will de-clutter and re-organize one cabinet or closet in her house each month. One a month.
2. She will wear curlers to pick up the kids at school no more than once a week.
3. She will immediately cease embarrassing her children for sport, though her own mother seemed to enjoy it immensely.
4. She will stop cussing, drinking, obsessing about her clothes and making fun of her husband. Ha ha. Just kidding!

So, lovelies, have fun, be safe and wear what you love! It’s not too late to shop, although you should do it early and call ahead, as some places are closed today and others close early. It’s also not too late to call a car service for this evening (The Shop Tart recommends Aiken Limousine). Many New Year’s Eve hotspots offer safe transportation; take advantage of it.

In other news…

• Simply Savory is open until 5 pm today, so head in for that last minute bottle (or case!) of Champagne if you’re staying in for the night or having people over after your 5 pm dinner reservation, which you were forced to make because you waited until the last minute. Ahem.
• Today is the last day to take advantage of M Boutique’s 25% off cocktail clothing sale - great place to get an outfit for this evening!
• Belladea is open today and has two sale racks, one at 30-40% off, the other at 60% off.

Happy Shopping, Happy New Year and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!

The Shop Tart has been in a jeans rut. Her skinny black jeans (Paper Denim and Cloth) get worn far too often, as do the fifties-style, cuffed skinny blue jeans (James). She has too many kids to get away with trouser jeans (Lucky), which look suspiciously like “Mom Jeans” on her, as do any super-highwaisted ones (Dearest Philip Lim, Love you. Can’t rock those jeans.) She does have a trusty pair of Paper Denim and Cloth boot-cuts, purchased after losing all eighty pounds she gained while pregnant with her second child. That child is eight years old so, while the jeans still look impressively current enough, the thrill is gone. She is not the type to wear white jeans (James and Joe’s) in winter, although it can be very chic. She has a pair of dark, boot-cut (Citizens of Humanity) that are serviceable but almost too boring to mention. After searching high and low, and talking herself into believing if the celebrities wore them, they’d be just fab on her, the Shop Tart found these, the Current/Elliott 1957 Boyfriend Jean as Seen on Reese Witherspoon. Love is in the air and the thrill is back!

Sadly, she couldn’t find them in Columbia and had to order them from National Jean Company. Well, it wasn’t too sad, as they had free  and fast* shipping and excellent customer service. Now she is left to wonder which shop in town will carry them first. Or, um, maybe no one else wants intentionally ripped, cropped, baggy jeans. It wouldn’t be the first time the Shop Tart loved something no one else did. But come on, aren’t they cool?

In case you are nuts like the Shop Tart and want a pair, she has two suggestions:

1. Order small. They run big. The Shop Tart ordered the smallest size she can fit into and they’re still a little big.
2. Try the code “GRECHEN” at check-out to get 20% off your purchase. Not sure if it still works, but it did a month ago!

In other news…

• The ladies at Kicks were working on inventory. Could this mean they’ll find a few forgotten pairs to put on sale? The Shop Tart hopes so!
• M Boutique is offering 25% off cocktail clothes until New Year’s Eve.
• In Charleston for the weekend? Hampden Clothing is having a sample sale at their Mt. Pleasant location from now until January 10th. 75% off everything - hooray!
• Make your New Year’s reservations early, as restaurants are filling fast. Or you could pick up dinner from the deli case at Simply Savory, DiPrato’s or Gourmet Shop and snuggle up at home to watch the ball drop.

Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!

* The Shop Tart hates delayed gratification, so fast shipping is a real plus. Even so, she couldn’t sleep or eat while she waited, which may have been why the jeans were so baggy. Huh.

So, we’ve reached the pinnacle of the shopping season and we’re headed back down the mountain. Never fear, there’s another hike ahead…to Spring! The Shop Tart got a sneak peak at Spring merchandise at VanJean the other day - pretty, pretty, pretty - lots of bright colors. Hooray!

No matter how excited you are about Spring, don’t ski too fast down the last winter slope. It’s time to mine the sales and make some serious fashion decisions. Prices are just about as low as they can go, but there are still some fab choices out there. In fact, shop early, because there are some returns from the holidays that might not have been in the shops for a while. The Shop Tart scored a divine pair of Louboutins at Coplon’s for an obscenely low price. What kind of person returns a gift like that? Crazy! So get shopping - New Year’s Eve is just around the corner!

• Simply Savory is hosting a sparkling wine tasting this afternoon, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. All four wines are less than $15.99 and don’t forget about Simply Savory’s 15% case discount. This is the perfect opportunity to choose your bubbly for New Year’s Eve. One of the wines, Pol Clement Brut, is a Shop Tart favorite, guzzled with enthusiasm at her latest party.
• Just the Thing is offering 50% off the entire store.
• Little Lambs and Ivy is having a clearance sale. Fall and holiday merchandise is discounted 50% or more.
• Mary in Five Points is offering 25% off everything in the store and 60% off anything originally over $200.
• Shoes at Sophie are 50% off and there are plenty of “Last Pairs” for only $20. Sophie is also carrying last season’s clothes from Mary - including denim - at 75% off. It’s like an outlet sale, right in the heart of Five Points!
• Coplon’s sale is pretty awesome - 70% off Fall and Winter clothes and shoes, 50% off Fall and Winter handbags and 80% off past season clothes and shoes, which begs the question, “Does a $1000 Armani blazer marked down to $200 ever really go out of style?” The Shop Tart thinks not!
• Revente’s Winter Clearance sale is on - 50% off Fall and Winter clothing and shoes, 25% off selected jewelry and accessories. Start combing your closet - they’ll accept Spring consignments starting January 12th.
• VanJean and Pout are closed until January 5th.
• Need to chill? Have a New Year’s resolution you want to start right this second? Classes at City Yoga are free this week. That’s right. Free. All week. So go!

Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!

Boxing Day is not the time to get in the ring and go ten rounds with over-worked salespeople. Here we are -  ready to hit the ground running, ready to nab that coat you wanted all season long for 70% off, ready to exchange that extremely “interesting” gift you found under your tree. You know the one - you were surprised such a thing was available in a store normally stocked with nothing but fabulous. Your husband, aunt, co-worker or crazy friend managed to find it, though. In most shops, exchanges are welcome, but don’t count on it. A gift is a gift, y’all, and if you don’t like yours, it is neither the giver’s fault nor the salesperson’s. This is a no-fault occurrence, so be nice!

Here are the rules:

• You may politely ask in a shop if an exchange might be possible.
• You may not throw a temper tantrum if it turns out the item was not purchased there after all.
• You may not throw a temper tantrum if the item has been heavily discounted. After all, so has everything else, so you still get a pretty even exchange.
• You may not throw a temper tantrum if the store does not accept post-holiday exchanges. It happens. Get over it.
• No one owes you a gift and, out of the kindness of their hearts, they tried to choose what you would like. Keep that in mind.
• You may not confront the gift-giver and ask for a receipt. Seriously, you can’t. There’s no polite, subtle or nice way to do it. So just don’t.
• Don’t expect cash in exchange for your return. It never happens - not in boutiques, not at the mall, not in big box stores. Feel free to ask in an extremely pleasant tone of voice, but when the answer is no, accept it.
• Be very careful about re-gifting. Enough has been written about this already, so the Shop Tart will spare you.
• Remember that human feelings - those of the gift giver, salespeople and your fellow shoppers - are more important than any material thing. Don’t ruin someone else’s nice day by being ugly.

A long time ago, in a mall far away, the Shop Tart worked in a shop. After Christmas, a young woman came in with a sweet pair of flannel pajamas and a matching robe, purchased lovingly for her by her grandmother. The Shop Tart, as per not-unusual-at-all store policy, offered her a store credit. Miss Nasty showed her ass expressed her irritation in a less than charming way. She berated the Shop Tart, who might have cried had she been a weaker woman. Also, she finds it very difficult to be intimidated by someone in skin-tight acid-wash jeans and a tube top. For the record, this look was not popular at the time and hadn’t been for a while, but someone must not have gotten the memo. In fact, the Shop Tart is being kind; that look was never in, now was it? The young woman finished her tantrum with a flourish by screeching,

“WELL I HATE EVERYTHING HERE, SO IF YOU WON’T GIVE ME THE MONEY, IT’S LIKE SHE DIDN’T GIVE ME A GIFT AT ALL!”

Although the Shop Tart was finished with that particular conversation - you can’t negotiate with a terrorist - she might have pointed out that her grandmother did give her a gift, lovingly chosen, even if it didn’t fit her trashy lifestyle. Perhaps Granny was trying to offer a subtle hint that some changes were in order. Hmph. Don’t be Miss Nasty.

So, now that we’ve established the rules, here are a few places to score some deals! Wheeee!

• Today and tomorrow only, Coplon’s has Fall and Winter merchandise marked down 70%. They open at 10 am. See you there!
• Just the Thing is offering 50% off the entire store.
• M Boutique is offering 30% off select Fall and Winter merchandise and 40% off cocktail clothes.
• Gourmet Shop is having a sale on Champagne - stock up for New Year’s!
• Revente is offering 50% off all clothes and shoes and 25% off selected jewelry and accessories.
• Chances are your favorite shop has marked down whatever they have left, so go take a look - just be nice!
• VanJean is closed until January 5th for the holidays, so be patient!
• Holiday merchandise at Burlap is 50% off.
• Simply Savory is closed today, but will re-open tomorrow - the perfect place to have lunch and fuel your shopping jaunts!

Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!

The Shop Tart adores this time of year, a day or so before Christmas, when going out to lunch might mean seeing someone you haven’t seen in years who’s home for the holidays. You’ve finished your shopping and, if you haven’t, grab a gift certificate or make a donation in someone’s name. AnnaBelle at LaRoque will add $25 to each $100 gift certificate you purchase. Solstice, Cellar on Green and Mr. Friendly’s are offering free gifts with gift certificate purchases - a bottle of wine with $100, two bottles of wine with $200 and two bottles of wine and an extra $20 gift certificate with $300. Pout will add $25 to any gift certificate over $75. Kicks is a great gift certificate option - they plan to stay open today from 10 am until the shoppers stop shopping. Simply Savory, just down the street, is open until 4 today, so stop in for lunch, buy a case of wine to give to random people who show up on your doorstep bearing gifts, then head to Kicks for a gift certificate or a last minute purchase for someone special. Don’t forget to bid adieu to Tullulah, open for the last time today. Stop by for a glass of Champagne and see if you can’t score a last minute deal or two. While you’re there, ask AnnaBelle (LaRoque) about her exciting plans for her shop.

Make today about people. If you’re lucky enough to be able to shop, take a moment (and take out your wallet) to think about those who are having a hard time this year. A charitable donation made in someone else’s name is always a beautiful gift. And there are plenty of places who can use the help. Justgive.org allows you to search for charities by category and location and donate any amount you choose to the charity of your choice. They’ll even send the person you wish to honor an email telling them about your gift. Spend time with friends, skip the big crowded box stores, forgo the rushed meals and enjoy!

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