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Walmart and Target provide quick and easy access to everything from groceries and everyday necessities to electronics and apparel for millions of shoppers. But for customers in the know, the convenience of these iconic big-box stores is matched only by their ability to pump out some incredible deals on top of their already low prices. And while heavily promoted sales might be fine for the casual bargain hunter, there's one area of the stores where you may be able to regularly score a shockingly good price. Read on to learn more about the secret hiding spot Walmart and Target have for clearance items.
READ THIS NEXT: 5 Warnings to Shoppers From Ex-Walmart Employees.
Unless you're doing a lot of research, finding a great deal in the clearance section of a big store like Walmart usually comes down to good luck while shopping at the exact right time. But while everyday shoppers won't miss the large signs or bright tags advertising the deeply discounted products, there could still be plenty of bargains on the shelves you might never find unless you knew how to look for them.
In a video posted in October, a TikToker with the username SuperUnsexy explains that there's one place anyone looking for a great price at Walmart should look immediately. "I tell everyone to search the top shelf for deals," he says, pointing to the hard-to-reach ledge that might appear to be overflow storage to the untrained eye.
Of course, the top shelf makes for a perfect hiding spot for clearance items as it puts them out of reach for most shoppers and makes them less convenient to pull down. But the savvy TikTok shopper points out there's one tool at your disposal that can make bargain hunting a breeze.
"One thing people don't talk about is the Walmart scanner," he explains. "It scans so far!"
Instead of fetching each product down from up high, he points out how the store's app allows shoppers to scan an item's barcode and check its price right on their phones to see if it's on hidden clearance. He also demonstrates how you can often reach a product's barcode by walking around to the next aisle, where you can easily access it without having to tip or pick up the item.
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But Walmart isn't the only big box store to use height to hide its best deals. In a separate video posted in October, the TikToker points out that Target also stashes many of its hidden clearance items on stop shelves in aisles, making it worth the effort to look up while shopping.
Similar to their competitor, Target shoppers can also make use of the store's app to check prices—but it differs in that the information online might not match the much lower in-store clearance markdown. This means anyone hunting for a deal will have to scan each product's barcode in one of the store's price check kiosks to verify how much they'll save.
But don't worry if you're unable to carry the item or can't reach it from the top shelf: Instead, he suggests taking a picture of the item's barcode with your phone to scan instead of lugging bulky products across the store.
Besides the eye-catching displays and the hard-to-reach hiding spots, shoppers can still find decent deals in Walmart and Target by keeping their eyes peeled for products in other places, too.
In another video posted to his feed, SuperUnsexy points out that clearance items can sometimes be found hidden behind other display boxes on eye-level and lower shelves, including in the toiletries aisle. Even big-ticket items like furniture can scan for much lower at some stores if you notice they don't have a price tag anywhere on their box.
And if you're ever scanning and realize an item's name or image doesn't match what's in your hand, you could have a possible mismarked deal on your hands.
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