2016’s Best Columbus Day Sales

Although it’s technically a federal holiday, the celebration of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World 524 years ago won’t give you a legitimate excuse to skip work. But you can still take advantage of Columbus Day discounts the weekend before.

In anticipation of the holiday on Oct. 10, WalletHub’s number crunchers surveyed the best Columbus Day deals to help you find the most savings on your favorite items and get ahead of the crowds. In addition, we tracked various product categories for more than a year to determine what’s discounted most heavily in October compared with the rest of the year. And one specific item stands out: exercise bikes. So if you’re on the hunt for one, this month’s the time to budget for it.

Below, we’ve also handpicked 10 special deals we think you’ll love as well as the best bargains by product category, such as “Apparel,” “Electronics” and “Jewelry.” For each, you can compare the regular price to the discounted Columbus Day price to get a better sense of the deal.

Scroll down to find the biggest savings opportunities and a full description of how we found the deals.

 

10 Best Cherry-Picked Deals for Columbus Day

 

Best Items to Buy in October: Items with the Highest Discounts in October 2015 vs. the Rest of the Year

Best Columbus Day Sales by Category

For a more in-depth look at Columbus Day deals, please select your favorite category below.

Apparel & Accessories

*Offers available 10/5-10/10
***Offers available 10/2-10/15

Appliances

*Offers available 10/5- 10/10
**Offers available 10/2-10/16
***Offers available 10/2 -10/15

Computers & Phones

Electronics

2 - Offer valid the week of 10/9
3 - Offers available 10/5-10/11

Packaged Goods

3 - Offers available 10/5-10/11
6 - Offers available until 10/22

Furniture

1 – Offer valid 10/9-10/11
3 - Offers available 10/5-10/11
4 - Offers valid 10/5-10/18
5 – Offers available until 10/31

Jewelry

*Offers available 10/5-10/10
5 – Offers available until 10/31

Toys

3 – Offers available 10/5-10/11
5 – Offers available until 10/31

All Other Products

*Offers available 10/5-10/10
***Offers available 10/2-10/15
3 - Offers available10/5-10/11
4 - Offers available 10/5-10/25
5 – Offers available until 10/31
6 - Offers available until 10/22

Methodology

To find the best savings opportunities this coming Columbus Day weekend, WalletHub’s number crunchers surveyed deals from the following 14 retailers:

 

Our editors then picked the 30 best deals in each of 9 product categories — such as “Apparel & Accessories” to “Electronics” to “Jewelry” — and categorized them accordingly to help consumers easily find savings that match their needs.

In addition, we identified the best savings opportunities in October by collecting the regular list price and discounted price every day — from Sept. 1, 2015 to Sept. 28, 2016 — for the 16 item categories listed below. We used Amazon.com’s “Best Sellers” list as the source of our price data. For each item category, we collected price data only for products within a reasonable price range in order to avoid skewing our data toward products that are likely too expensive for most consumers.

Electronics

• TV ($300–$600)
• Digital Camera ($170–$340)
• No-Contract Cell Phones ($100–$400)

Appliances

• Refrigerator ($200–$1000)
• Dishwasher ($500–$1000)
• Washing Machine ($500–$2000)
• Ranges ($1000–$1500)
• Microwaves ($100–$200)

Computers

• Laptop ($450–$900)
• Tablets ($200–$500)

Jewelry

• Engagement Rings ($1000–$3000)

Sports

• Exercise Bikes ($400–$600)
• Treadmills ($500–$1200)

Baby Furniture

• Baby Crib ($200–$500)
• Strollers ($200–$500)
• Car Seats ($200–$500)

 

Sources: Data used to create the lists were collected from the aforementioned retailers, SlickDeals, DealNews and offers.com.