One of the satisfactions of living in rural Brooklyn (Midwood, Ditmas, etc.) is the proximity of Amazing Savings, the bastard child of a 99-cent store and a Bed Bath & Beyond. This is where Orthodox Brooklyn shops for foil trays, plasticware (oh, the humanity!) and weird household items like washing machine bra-savers. But there’s tons more good stuff. We recruited local kidswear designer Eliza Gran (above) to find it. She also took the pictures.
Score #1: Tyler Florence Tableware
Eliza, an Amazing Savings newcomer, was shocked to find shelves and shelves of Tyler Florence for Mikasa rustic white tableware–at crazy-on-the-junk prices. We’re talking dinner plates, normally $19.99, for $2.50, coffee mugs, usually $12.99, for $1.50, for the love of G-d! “I am totally buying this stuff!” Eliza said, stuffing a beaded-rim fish platter for $6.99 (normally $49.99) and a $19.99 baroque casserole dish (regularly $79.95) into her cart. “I was expecting rubber ducks at this place, not…this!”
Eliza turns her new $19.99 casserole into a fun fruit bowl.
Score #2: Photo Albums
Amazing Savings is a trove of frames and albums, not all fabulous. Eliza saw past the lucite-and-silver send-to-Grandma-in-Merrick frames and sussed out some black and red 3-ring binders for $2.99. “If you’re like me, your photos are still in a computer or in a plastic bag in the closet,” she said. “I’d buy 20 and put all of my photos in them.”
Score #3: Tea-party Plates
“Girls would go bananas for these at a little party!” Eliza said, eyeballing the stacks of 49-cent glass plates. “They’re like fake Kate Spade!” To show how it’s done, she brought a couple home and styled them like thus and so:
Score #4: Fake-antique kitchen gadgets
In the peeler and juicer aisle, she spotted some faux vintage food choppers, pie slicers, and pasta rollers with white ceramic handles and tinny tool bits. “These are quite cute!” she marveled. “A little flimsy, but cute!”
Scores #5 – #9: Groovy Girls, paint-by-numbers sets and weaving kits
“Groovy Girls for $2.99!” she said. “My girls were obsessed with these for years and I bought so many for $16 or $18.” Paint-by-numbers sets (Eliza bought a half-dozen for her trip to the country) were marked $3 but only cost 99 cents; Alex Loop & Loom kits were $4.99 as opposed to $20 and up elsewhere.
Score #10: Crafty stuff
Amazing Savings has an entire wall of scrap-booky trinkets—like swirly quilling stickers, whatever those are. “Quilling stickers! Martha Stewart is always talking about quilling!” Eliza homed in on the 69-cent button packets, “great if you’re making party invitations for kids.” Or putting them on a woven placemat and taking a photo.
Don’t buy: Anything to wear.
Buy: Wrapping paper and gift bags; kids’ toys; party-bag stuffers and books; kitchen gadgets galore; office supplies, crockpots.
Amazing Savings, 1415-1423 Avenue M, 718-998-2020
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Beautiful photos and great ideas!
I have been shopping here for years. A couple of years ago they went bankrupt but shortly thereafter reopened and picked up where they left off.
Don’t forget more Amazing Savings on McDonald Avenue.
I once bought an entire set of Christmas dishes, service for 16 with some platters and serving bowls for about $50 at Amazing Savings on Ave M! Still using them.
When I worked nearby, this was my lunch stop.
You never knew what you’d find!
If you need to buy gifts for a group at holiday time, but can’t afford too much, they have great patterned boxes that make the gift elegant and fun and can be used for other purposes.
Strangely, the Amazing Savings on McDonald doesn’t seem to be the same to me.
I’m heading right over. I bought an amazing huge children’s tea party set there as an xmas present for like 4.99.
I buy tin pans there for 20 cents each with lids. There’s always lots of good bargains there. Too bad it’s so hard to park in the area.
Love Amazing Savings on mcDonald Avenue ! When they temporarilly closed last year, i was devastated !!!! Great Buys – the prices of their hardcover childrens books are unbelievable !!!