More than 100 people stood outside the three floors of Bloomingdale's waiting for the mall doors to be raised on Sunday morning. Signs throughout the store indicated that everything is discounted 10 to 40 percent and nothing was held back.

Well, that's not quite true. The entire cosmetics department is held back from the discounts. You can still buy cosmetics or fragrances but not at a discount. Still, that's no surprise. Cosmetics rarely go on sale except during Herberger's Goodwill sale. Macy's didn't discount them in 2009 when its Brookdale store closed. Another item, David Yurman jewelry, was pulled from the counter and is no longer available.

Shoppers who had done some pre-shopping before the sale started Sunday were disappointed. As far as I could tell, everything that was on sale Saturday was no longer on sale Sunday. That meant that a winter coat that was on sale at 50 percent off Saturday was 40 percent off Sunday. There was no stacking of discounts unless the item was on clearance, which is permanently marked on the price tag. For example, a line of Hudson Park sheets were marked 40 percent off before the going-out-of-business sale started. Now they're an additional 30 percent off. Anything on clearance, and there isn't much, is the best deal going in the store as of now. There is a fair amount of clearance in costume jewelry and women's.

Those disappointed in the first set of markdowns is wondering when the next round will occur. Bloomingdale's spokeswoman Marissa Vitagliano would not confirm the frequency. On Sunday, one salesman speculated that the next markdown will be in a week.

In my opinion, the best deals, besides clearance, are in the gift department where pieces by Kosta Boda, Waterford, Kate Spade and Oiva Toikka birds from Finland are 20 percent off. Women's premium denim from 7 and Citizend for Humanity and Joe's are 20 percent off. Tumi luggage, which rarely goes on sale, might be another deal but I did not confirm the discount percentage.

For more info, go to my article about the hits and misses in the sale.

What did you think of the sale?