DaySpring outlet sale this week

Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader DaySpring employees Brandy Feeling and Sherri Brooker worked on Thursday preparing for the annual outlet sale this week. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend.

Janelle Jessen/Herald-Leader DaySpring employees Brandy Feeling and Sherri Brooker worked on Thursday preparing for the annual outlet sale this week. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

More than 5,000 shoppers are expected to visit Siloam Springs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to attend the annual DaySpring outlet sale.

The sale draws customers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, and tour buses bring visitors from as far away as Oklahoma City, according to Brenda Turner, director of communications for the company. Some shoppers even travel from states outside the region, such as New Mexico and Florida, said Sherri Brooker, manager of the annual sale and DaySpring Outlet Store.

For the second year in a row, DaySpring is opening its warehouse on Arkansas Highway 16 for the sale. Brooker estimated that around 2,000 different products will be on sale, including cards, calendars, mugs, gift bags, wall art and home decor. Everything will be marked down 50 to 90 percent and prices range from 10 cents to $30, she said.

Betty Ross, manager of the Welcome to Arkansas Center located at the Arkansas Oklahoma line on U.S. Highway 412, said that welcome center traffic doubles or even triples during the DaySpring sale.

Mid-November is generally a pretty slow time of year for the welcome center, but during the DaySpring sale, the center sees a lot of tour buses and church buses stopping on their way to the sale, Ross said. Some tour groups spend two or three days in Northwest Arkansas, stopping at the DaySpring sale before going on to other destinations such as Crystal Bridges, she said.

Wayne Mays, president of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce, said the annual DaySpring sale is definitely a tourism event for Siloam Springs. This year the chamber's tourism committee has worked with DaySpring for about six months in advance of the sale to put together materials, including a city map, encouraging customers to visit other parts of the community while they are in town.

That information was included in the invitations and information packets the company sent out. DaySpring sent out invitations to more than 2,000 churches in a 200 mile radius, in addition to information packets sent to tour bus companies, Turner said.

The sale began as a way to sell overstock or discontinued items, but when DaySpring found that many churches and ministries use the deeply discounted prices at the annual sale as an opportunity to stock up on cards and supplies for the year, it took on an element of community service and ministry, Turner said. The company also uses the sale to do customer research and determine which products sell best, she said.

The sale is always the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving. Some shoppers come for three or four hours, then go to lunch, then come back for the sale, while others come back all three days, Turner said. Church buses often schedule lunches at local restaurants.

Many shoppers plan a year in advance and make the sale an event, according to Brooker and Turner. Calendars and cards are customer favorites.

"Customers will walk out of here with a new calendar and already have next year's sale dates marked on the calendar," she said.

DaySpring is clearing 360 parking spaces at their corporate headquarters on Highway 16 to accommodate visitors. Additional parking spaces are available next to the warehouse.

General News on 11/12/2017