Where to Look for Cheap but Good and Nice Ben10 Clothes

As Mommy's readers might have read before, Juan Or caught the Ben10 fever not too long ago. There was once when we went on LRT joyride and landed in Sogo, then saw one section selling Ben10 clothes. Juan Or asked Mommy to buy one for him but Ben10 clothes are not cheap, mind you! With just the T-shirt part alone (without pants), the lowest available price was RM25 and that also Mommy felt is not justified because the fabric is the type that cannot absorb sweat! So Mommy didn't entertain Juan Or's request.


Then one day, the opportunity came. We were merely window shopping at IOI Mall (Old Wing). Mommy spotted this tenant selling children's fancy dress (e.g. marshal, bear and bunny suits, etc.) but still did not know that the shop offers more than that. Then Mommy spotted one section displaying Ben10 clothes. It was chilren's suit set - singlet-styled top and a matching shorts. Price? RM14.90 for size 6, 100% cotton - cheap! Not only does the range offers Ben10 designs, but also Spongebop, Thomas and Friends and Power Rangers at that price range. If you are looking for short-sleeved T-shirt with shorts suit set and 100% cotton with Ben10 pictures and at that price range, there you have it too!

So Mommy bought a mixture of Ben10 and Thomas and Friends designs of suit sets: a size 6 and size 8 singlet-and-shorts sets for RM14.90 each, a size 10 and size 12 singlet-and-shorts sets for RM16.90 each and a size 6 short-sleeved with shorts set for RM17.90. All are 100% cotton and the cloth texture is quite thick. Although Mommy suspects these are not original Ben10 and Thomas and Friends merchandise, however, the pictures of the design are not out either. And the good news is that so far, Mommy has washed one of the sets before and found that the pictures remain intact and the clothes remain the same size after washing. Only thing is that the dye came out into the soapy water and yet the dye was not absorbed by the white parts of the suit set and neither did other clothes (Papa and Mommy's clothes) absorb the dye. After it was dry from washing, the colour did not look faded either. Yippy! The label also says: "Made in Indonesia".

Anyway, this boy was and is still very happy and eager wearing the Ben10 clothes again whenever they are dry from washing.

He even made it a point to wear the Ben10 clothes together with his Ben10 watch, called the Omnitrix! By the way, the babysitter gave him the Ben10 watch as his birthday present recently.

Be warned however that the cutting is considered small for the size no. it portrays. For example, although the label says size 6 (supposedly for children age 6), actually it's more for children age 3 to 4. The one Juan Or is wearing in the photo above says size 6. So be sure to size the clothes according to the child's body first before buying. Credit cards are accepted for whatever amount you are buying. Happy shopping!

The tenant's address:
Yang Young Gui, F43 & F43A 1st Floor, IOI Mall, Puchong. Tel. no.: 03-8076 9980

Toddler Clothes Hunting at Hytex Warehouse Sale

Recently Mommy noticed that Juan Or's homewear singlets for 2-year-old toddlers are getting tight and short already - something similar (but not as bad as that!) to how it looks like for the T-shirt that Winnie the Pooh wears. Then came the Hytex Warehouse Sale from 2nd to 11th December 2010 which got Mommy's saliva driping! Previously Mommy bought a substantial number of Winnie the Pooh T-shirts (both with and without sleeves) and shorts from the Hytex sale. But unfortunately what Mommy stocked up for Juan Or's 3rd year of age was not sufficient for homewear. So with this sale, Mommy was very excited and hopeful to get more T-shirts/singlets for 3 year olds.

This time, Hytex holds their sale at a multi-purpose hall - no longer at their factory's vicinity. Parking-wise, it was quite diffucult to get parking because the hall's compound itself has limited parking space. So Mommy parked at the roadside in front of a school. Others parked in front of people's house but not blocking their gates though.


There were many people there. Sad to say, this time, everything looks so messy - messy in the sense the racks were merely identified by the price tag of the clothes in it. Even then, you can still find clothes of other price range in the wrong rack (no thanks to some customers who simply chuck their 'loot' at their convenience when they changed their mind)! There is nothing to indicate what age group of clothes the rack contains. So in the end, customers really have to go to each rack to see exactly what kind (e.g. adult, teens, older children, younger children, toddlers, babies) of clothes are there before deciding whether or not to dig further into the rack.


Not just that, all the racks have clothes in heaps - nothing is organized unlike last time. As for toddler and baby clothes, Mommy could see lots of girl clothes whereas boy ones are so hard to find. Also, you can easily find clothes for 1-year-old girl toddlers but it's so very hard to find clothes for 2- and 3-year-olds. It's just so different now for Hytex sale. Last time, you didn't even have to dig deep just to find what you want and the quantity for each T-shirt design and for each age was plentiful. There were also a number of selfish customers who 'usurp' whatever they can reach without thinking whether in the end they are really buying them or not, and then they go to one corner, sit on the floor and start choosing what they want one by one. Those that they don't want they just leave aside on the floor so much so you can see a number of hills of clothes on the floor! So in the end, other customers don't really get what they want or don't get those nice ones since they are searching from the racks.



In the end, Mommy only managed to find one piece of Baby Looney Tunes T-shirt for age 3 for RM5 and a Pooh shorts for RM3. Mommy also bought one pair of toddler socks and 2 pairs of children socks, each for RM3, all are Looney Tunes design. This time's yield is really disappointing! *Sigh!*

 
In order to make the trip to Kepong more worthwhile ( since it's so far away from Cheras or even Puchong!), Mommy decided to buy some T-shirts for Juan Or for ages 6, 8, and 12! Only the green Tigger design (RM5) is for age 6 while the rest are for age 8 (blue one for RM5 and the rest are RM8 per piece).

Here are the Mickey Mouse T-shirts for age 12, each at RM8. And mind you, Mommy only managed to find these nice Mickey Mouse T-shirts (both for ages 8 and 12) from the hill of clothes on the floor left behind by those selfish customers! However when Mommy was still searching at the racks, Mommy cannot find anything like that. This goes on to show that basically these selfish customers grabbed all the good and nice ones without really thinking whether they really buy them or not and in the end just left them on the floor when they decided not to buy them and then led other customers into thinking that there is nothing really nice to choose from the sale! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

The queue at the cashier counter was long but still manageable and clearing quite fast. Only cash payments are accepted. Mommy's total damage for the day was RM59. 

So, bottom line is that if Hytex doesn’t want to lose the trust of their old warehouse sale customers, they had better hold it in their own premise just like the good ‘ole days!

Teo Guan Lee Warehouse Sale (25th-31st August 2009)

Last week Friday, Mommy took a day’s leave from work after a very hectic schedule of keeping up with deadline to mark and submit exam marks. Guess where Mommy went to? Mommy went to the Teo Guan Lee Warehouse Sale to see what’s in store for baby and children items. This sale is in Taman Shamelin Perkasa, Cheras and Mommy went there via the Middle Ring Road 2. The sale is supposed to start at 10.30 am, but Mommy reached there at about 10.10 am and it was already opened. Parking-wise was a little difficult, but because Mommy’s car is small and it was still quite early, Mommy managed to get one.

There wasn't many people in the sale, probably because it was still quite early. The sale area was considerably big. Most of the items on sale are children and baby clothes and shoes/slippers and toiletries and other more minor sections are comforters and beddings, children toys, adult clothes and leather belts and wallets/purses.

Of course the section that interests Mommy most is the children and babies section. Some things are cheap, some are not - you have to choose wisely. Mommy also noticed that some really cheap items (for example Kiki Lala infant clothes selling for RM2) are no longer in good condition in that they have stains on them. Also, many items were not well price-tagged. Mommy saw many tags merely written as 'PW 03' with no mention of the price.....now what is that supposed to mean? As for payment, only cash term was accepted. But there's no queue for payment although there were also two cashier counters because not many people were buying anyway! Here are some snapshots of the sale:

Chicco bottle sterilizer - most of the boxes are already opened, but there's not price tag on the box...not even at the rack.




Kiki Lala baby clothes - can't find those at RM1 at all. Those RM2 ones are already in bad condition (stains).



Cuddles baby and toddler clothes - although the lowest price states RM3, however, the cheapest Mommy could find was RM8.


More of Cuddles baby and toddler clothes - again, Mommy can't find those at RM1, instead Mommy found those mostly at RM8.




More of Kiki Lala and Tom & Jerry items.

Pacifiers and pacifier chains selling for RM2 (Mommy can't remember what brand).




Puppy Winks canister wet wipes - RM5 per canister of 200 pieces of wet wipes - cheap!




Baby toiletries (can't remmember what brand) - RM1 for 120 mL bottle and RM2 for bigger bottle (can't remember the volume) - which is still not as cheap as the toiletries sold at Hytex.

Baby pillow and bolster sets and diaper bags.



More baby and toddler clothes. Mostly saw RM8 ones.



Popeye brand of children clothes.



Another Popeye boy's suit of T-shirt and bermuda for RM10 which is cheap, but Mommy dared not buy yet because it is going to be another 9 years before Juan Or can wear them. Maybe by then, the garters would have loosen already.

Kiki Lala pacifiers that come together with covers for RM1 each - cheap!



Kiki Lala toddler shoes selling for RM5 only - cheap! But Mommy didn't buy them because Juan Or already has enough toddler shoes bought at Hytex previously.



Girl slippers and clogs selling for RM5 per pair.



Ladybird brand of baby clothes gift set selling for RM35 but Mommy saw the original price tag was RM37.90. So this is definitely not cheap at all!

Children toys selling from RM3 to RM45. The toys don't look new and some are not in good condition.

Ladies' panty hose selling for RM1 per pack of 5 pairs - cheap! In fact, you get a pack of panty hose free if you purchase RM50 and above in a single receipt.

Comforters - the organizer did not indicate clearly whether the price shown is before or after discount of 80%, but Mommy doubts the price shown is before discount.

So what did Mommy get for Juan Or this time? Nothing much because most things like clothes and toddler shoes are already in sufficient supply for him. This is what Mommy got for Juan Or:

A set of rubbery toys-cum stackable cups that can double as chewy items for Juan Or, RM1 for all three pieces.

Kiki Lala shoes for children about age 5-6 years old for RM5. This pair of shoes has very thick soles and deep markings for good grip.

Popeye shoes for RM10 meant for children of approximately 7-8 years old. Again, the soles look thick and has deep marks for good grip.

GME Branded Sale (31st July - 6th August 2009)

Mommy saw this warehouse sale's banner hung on lamp posts while driving in Sri Petaling and later in The Star's Metro section. What interests Mommy about this sale is that children's apparel are sold there and that the sale is held at Sri Petaling Hotel which is not far away from where Mommy lives.

So yesterday, after work, Mommy dropped by at the sale. There were some people there but not crowded. Mommy headed straight for the children apparel's section. Mommy noticed that a number of children and baby/toddler apparels are made by Hytex Garments (World of Cartoons brand) and the prices are not at all attractive. Here are some snapshots:

(World Of Cartoons apparel sold at RM12 to RM30. Not cheap at all! Might as well buy from Hytex Warehouse Sale itself which is even cheaper.)





(Transformers, Superman and Strawberry Shortcake brands of children apparel sold at RM19.90 to RM29.90 - also not cheap at all!)




Then out of curiosity, Mommy also went to the camping equipment section to take a look at how the prices are like for Coleman products. Here's what Mommy found:

(Coleman's Chillers Brite Ice (ice packs) medium size (left) for RM 12.80, small size (right) for RM10.40 and 6-pack size (not shown in photo) for RM16. Last year, Mommy bought the small size one (exactly the same brand and kind) at Tesco for only RM8.90! And mind you, this is a warehouse sale and yet the price is not warehouse price!)

(Coleman's cooler boxes sold for RM71.20 which is like the undiscounted price. Last year, Mommy saw this Coleman cooler box sold in Tesco for about RM60+. These cooler boxes are suitable for transporting expressed breast milk.)

(Another Coleman item - the cooler drinking bottle sold for RM29.90 and buy one, free one. So the price per unit becomes RM14.95 which is considered cheap. However, Mommy didn't buy this item because Mommy finds no use for it.)

(The price banner of the Coleman cooler drinking bottle mentioned just now.)

(Price banner showing Coleman's cooler bag of 28 cans' capacity sold for RM71.)

(Another Coleman cooler bag, but is of 9 cans' capacity sold for RM47.20, which is still not cheap in Mommy's opinion. However, this size of cooler bag is suitable for storing expressed breastmilk while on the go.)

What's Mommy's conclusion of this warehouse sale? Well, this is not a very genuine warehouse sale. Many items sold do not befit warehouse prices (e.g. ladies high-heel shoes of some unknown brand selling for RM49.90!). Probably the only item worth buying is the Coleman cooler drinking bottle. So in the end, Mommy left the place empty-handed.

More Things for Juan Or at the Hytex Warehouse Sale (30th May - 7th June 2009)

Last week, Mommy had the chance to drive to Kepong for the Hytex Warehouse Sale. Mommy used the Middle Ring Road 2 (no toll, no traffic lights!) to reach the Hytex factory in the Taman Ehsan Industrial Area. Previously Mommy went to the Hytex sale in December 2007 and ended up with a good number of infant clothes at a cheap price and a Tenderly stroller for RM100. The main attraction about Hytex is that you can get Disney and Looney Tunes infant/toddler clothes and some baby accessories and consumables for a cheap price.

(The banner at the entrance of the Hytex factory.)

Parking-wise was easy. Mommy easily found parking at the side of the road leading to the factory. There was no much people when Mommy arrived there. The sale area was partially in open-air, so it was basically warm but not too hot. When you come in from the factory entrance, baby/toddler items were on the right whereas teenager/adult apparels were on your left.

(A snapshot of the baby/toddler sale area.)

What about the baby/toddler things sold there? Here's a list of what Mommy saw and remembered:

• Bib RM1, RM3 (depending on design)
• Winnie the Pooh toddler T-shirts (with and without sleeves) RM5
• Winnie the Pooh toddler short/bermuda pants RM5
• Toddler boys/girls underwear, 2 pieces for RM5
• Infant shorts RM3 (unfortunately Mommy can't see any infant tops this time)
• A set of mittens, booties and hat, RM5
• Infant shoes, RM5
• Toddler shoes/sandles, both Looney Tunes and Tenderly brands RM5, RM8, RM10, RM18, depending on design
• Children shoes, Mickey Mouse, RM15, RM25 depending on types/design
• Potty with wide base, RM3
• Powder puff container RM3
• Looney Tunes baby wipes, 2 packs x 80 pcs. per pack, RM5 (manufacturing year 2006)
• Tenderly baby wipes, 30 pcs. per pack, RM1 (manufacturing year 2006)
• Hippopotamus bath toy set, RM3
• Toddler shorts, RM1 (cloth is thin and comfortable, good for both housewear and outings)
• Bottle brush, RM3 (good quality bristles)
• Non-spill sippy cup RM5
• Baby bolster cover RM1
• Baby Looney Tunes teats for wide neck baby bottles, 2 pcs. per pack, RM1
• Wide neck baby bottle 4 oz, RM5
• Looney Tunes socks, toddler and children sizes RM3
• Infant socks, RM3
• Tenderly baby toiletries, RM3 for every 2 bottles of 200 mL each (manufacturing year 2004)
• Baby car seat (the cloth type that you slot over the adult car seat) RM15
• Tenderly playpen RM120
• Tenderly stroller RM120
• Tenderly baby buggy RM100
• Mickey Mouse children Japanese rubber slippers RM3 (mostly girl designs)
• Mickey Mouse T-shirts (ages 4 and above) RM8
• Checked Winnie the Pooh shorts (ages 4 and above) RM3
• Toddler jacket with and without hood (RM15)
• Children jeans (didn't remember the price)

• Baby comforter set (consists of a comforter, a pillow and either one or two bolsters) RM20

• Looney Tunes baby pillow RM5

How about Mommy's yield? Here they are:

(Baby Looney Tunes non-spill sippy cup, RM5)

(Left: Baby Looney Tunes teats for wide neck baby bottles, XL size, 2 pcs. for RM1. Mommy found only 1 pack of XL size. The rest were L size to which Mommy felt the hole was too small for Juan Or's age. Mommy even tried fitting these teats onto the Avent bottle and they fit perfectly! Yay! A cheap alternative to buying Avent teats which can be quite costly! Right: Tenderly wet tissues, 30 pcs. for RM1)






(Each T-shirt for RM5. The price tag showed the original price of RM15.90. Nowadays Mommy prefers to buy sleeveless T-shirts for Juan Or considering that the weather has been very hot these days. By the way, Mommy straightaway bought as age 3 size so that Juan Or can wear them for a long, long time.)





(Each T-shirt for RM5. The price tage showed an original price of RM15.90. Both T-shirts are of age 3 size and is suitable for both housewear and outings.)

(Toddler shorts, each for RM1. The material is thin and comfy, suitable for both housewear and outings.)

(Another T-shirt that Mommy bought for RM5, age 2 size [Juan Or is 12+ months old]. The T-shirt looks good on him. Mommy bought his toddler dark blue shorts for RM1 only. The cloth of the shorts is thin and comfortable, suitable for both housewear and outings. Notice that Juan Or's cheek is puffier and his arm looks chunkier as a result of solidly on PediaSure milk diet.)



(Front-most is toddler socks and the rest are children socks, Looney Tunes design, each pair for RM3.)







(Toddler shoes - the dark brown pair is size 6 for RM8, the dark blue pair is size 5 for RM8 and the beige pair is size 4 for RM5.)












(Tenderly baby bath, 2 bottles for RM3, 200 mL per bottle. Only 11 bottles were left when Mommy saw them. So Mommy grabbed 10 bottles!).












(Bottle brush set for RM3. Mommy felt the texture of the bristles and they are of good quality. So Mommy grabbed 2 sets, one for own use and another for the babysitter.)





(Tenderly potty at RM3. It has a wide base so that it won't topple unlike the traditional type of potty. Mommy grabbed 2 units, one for own use and another to be put at the babysitter's place.)


How does this sale fare compared to the one Mommy went to in December 2007? Certain items remained same the price (Winnie the Pooh T-shirts and shorts, checked design Winnie the Pooh shorts, infant clothes, toddler/children socks), certain items went up in price (stroller, baby buggy, playpen, T-shirts for children ages 4 and above) and certain items went down in price (hippopotamus bath toy set, Looney Tunes baby wipes 2 packs x 80 pcs/pack, toddler shoes, baby toiletries). Quite a large number of items have not been seen before in previous sale. By the way, this warehouse sale only accepts cash term, has only one paying counter, but has no traffic-jam when paying for the goods.