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Housewares and some furniture are also sold at the large discount
retailers that have grown around the country in recent years.
Clothes and shoes are also sold in a variety of places, although
most clothing stores are located in malls. Malls have large
department stores that carry clothes for men, women, and children,
as well as specialty stores that offer a particular type of clothing, or
clothing for a specific group, such as children, teenagers, men,
women, or plus size customers.

DEPARTMENT STORES

Department stores were the original places where you could
buy everything you wanted under one roof. They now have a lot
of competition from discount stores, so they keep their customers
by offering special services and more high-quality items than can
be found in discount stores. Department stores will let you return
an item for whatever reason - it didn't fit, it wore out too quickly,
or you just didn't like it.
These stores usually have nice facilities for customers,
including a restaurant, clean bathrooms, and fitting rooms. In
many of them, the sales assistants will ask you if you need help
finding anything, and "start" a fitting room for you. This means
that they take the clothes you are gathering to a fitting room so
that you don't have to carry them around with you while choosing
more clothes to try on. There is often no limit to the number of
clothes you can bring into a fitting room to try on.

SALES AND DISCOUNT SHOPPING

Most people love a bargain, and a whole industry has
developed in the United States to offer American shoppers the best
prices on most products. Most department stores and specialty
stores have sales throughout the year and big end-of-season sales
twice a year, where very good bargains can be found. However,
there are a number of stores that offer lower prices year-round.