J Crew Warehouse Sale Lynchburg VA

I arrived at the J.Crew sale in Lynchburg Va at 3:30 am. I have never been one to camp out for sales or tickets. I’m motivated! I made the mistake of showing up at the August J Crew Asheville NC warehouse sale at 6am, waited in line 5 hours, and because I HAD to leave, I walked away empty handed. I was behind AND in front of hundreds of people- even when I left. So when I decided that a visit to my parents in VA Fortuitously coincided to the J Crew sale, I was resigned to loosing the sleep. My mom offered to keep the kiddos while I went in search of a bargain.

These sales are infamous. The waiting is brutal. The deals are plentiful. The first employees arrived at 4:30 and started organizing people into condensed lines and issued tickets ( to prevent line cutters- thank you!). Just as I tried to wiggle into a warm sleeping bag and position the umbrella to balance upright and prevent the pouring rain from hitting my face- the organizers showed up and told us to pack up. We stood in lines that wrapped around the large warehouse for hours. As the temperature dropped I questioned my own sanity, and especially the family in line in front of us who had driven from CHICAGO to attend the sale! They had a 5 year old and a 10 year old and 2 dogs traveling with. Another lady who had driven straight from MAINE tried to cut in line with her son at about 6:00am but alas no-ticket no getty-in-early.

The doors opened and I was in the first batch in. It was overwhelming and intimidating and takes at least 1/2 hour to get your bearings. The sale consists of most of a large Warehouse full of tables with cardboard boxes on top. I got there early to guarantee a spot in the first batch and get back to my parents house by noon (I was late), so I did not abuse my mothers generosity (but my kids did that for me). My advise- avoid the insanity and show up about noon or 3pm. Sale runs Saturday and Sunday 8am-8pm. The sales staff replenish the boxes constantly so you have just as good a chance of scoring great stuff at 5pm as you do at 8am. I am listing some of the prices so that you can judge for yourself if its worth it. I spent 4 1/2 hours waiting, 3 hours shopping and an hour waiting to tally and check-out. I spent $500.00 – the cap.

When you make it in, you are handed a price sheet and a large garbage bag. You dig through as many boxes as you can and scoop up as much as you can- be descerning but be fast, it’s hard to do. The merchandise is made up of past seasons, returns, 2nd quality, samples and damages.

Some of the Rules for the sale (see photo for more info):

  • No dressing rooms/No disrobing in aisles (people get around this by wearing leggings and yoga tops to easily slip stuff on, but I’ve found that the stuff is so cheap it’s not worth the trouble. You can pretty much just guess)
  • $500 limit per visit (If you spend more than $500–you can keep shopping, but only after you have checked out and gotten back in line)
  • Once you put something in your bag, it stays there until sorting by a staff member (people did kind of sort on their own, but if staffers saw them, they made them stop and put everything back in the bag)

The address for Lynchburg is:

25 Millrace Drive
Lynchburg, VA 24501
434-316-6324
The address for Asheville is:

1 Clifford Way (off N.C. 191)
Arden, NC 28704
(828) 687-6475