Genevieve Green recently got a $90 facial for half the price. Cody Schreger scored 10 Pilates classes for $60 that usually cost $200. And Natasha Washlick saves $400 to $600 a month on everything from breakfast cereal to luxury cosmetics.
If your idea of a coupon clipper is a frazzled housewife clutching a ream of cutouts, you’re way behind the times. Lately, a slew of hip, lifestyle-oriented Web sites has made it possible for stylish New York women on a budget to indulge themselves — and save big on — everything from yoga classes to bottles of vino at the newest wine bar.
In the past couple of years, the number of coupon Web sites has exploded — Groupon, KGB, Scoop Street, BlackBoard Eats, Buy With Me, BloomSpot and LivingSocial are just a few offering big discounts to those who subscribe online for free.
Lifebooker, a site specializing in upscale experiences that launched in September 2007, has doubled its subscription base in the last year, with 36,000 members in New York alone.
“We help people afford to live in the city,” says 28-year-old Kelsey Forde, a sales agent for KGB Deals who scores discounts of 50 percent or more on tans, facials and fitness services in NYC — and uses the deals herself.
She describes KGB’s users as “not your standard deal-seekers,” adding that the site hits a demographic sweet spot with women in the 25- to 40-year-old range. “My 23-year-old niece doesn’t have the money yet to be spending for things like a facial, and my mom thinks that if something is discounted, there must be something wrong with it,” says Forde.
With the offers popping straight into her e-mail, “It’s definitely for my generation,” agrees KGB subscriber Green, 34.
“Someone my mom’s age still associates price with quality.”
Coupon groupies receive a deal in their inbox every morning — 50 bucks’ worth of wine at West Village wine bar Centro Vinoteca for $25, for example, or a $60 golf class for $29. They have to act fast if they want in — usually within 24 hours. To redeem, they just click on the deal, pay their share and print out the coupon, which is typically good for six months to a year. Because many deals are for social experiences, like dining or girls’ nights out, many women are booking with friends and making a night of it.
But you don’t have to subscribe to a site to be part of the trend. Blond and fashionable Washlick, who lives in New Jersey, scans the Web each day for deals and printable coupons from stores such as Target, the Gap, Walgreens and Rite Aid. “I probably save about $100 to $150 a week on necessities like food and shampoo,” she says.
“When I tell people how much they can save using coupons, they just don’t get it.”
Combined with luxury fashion sites like Gilt and Outnet, which offer deeply discounted designer clothes, NYC gals are awash in high-end bargains. In fact, in February, the term “coupon whore” was added to urbandictionary.com, with the definition: “When a woman is shopping for clothes, groceries, or things that involve coupons, no matter what the prices or deals on the coupons are . . . she MUST use [them].”
But penny-pinchers, take note: Just because a deal is out there doesn’t mean you have to jump on it. As discount maven Green laughs, “Sometimes I think I spend more money because I get these deal offers on a daily basis!”
THE DEVOTEE-TURNED-DEALMAKER
Cody Schreger, 28, aerial artist and circus performer, Battery Park
* Where she goes for a bargain: Lifebooker (nyc.lifebooker.com) has spa and beauty services all over the city, like a recent offer for a $60 spray tan at Brazil Bronze Glow Bar for $25.
* Why she loves it: She enjoys trying out different fitness packages, like 10 Pilates classes for $60 that normally cost $200.
* Hot buys: She booked a dental cleaning at Tribeca Dental Studio — “$50 for a $435 regular price.”
* Latest deal: After a couple times as a customer, Schreger realized that Lifebooker might be interested in something she had to offer: the aerial-silks classes she teaches in Williamsburg. They agreed to give it a try, and added her deal — a $25 class for $15 — to their list. Through Lifebooker, Schreger says more than 100 people signed up for her classes, learning how to spin around on hanging silks — and some turned into repeat students.
THE BARGAIN-SEEKER
Genevieve Green, 34, financial marketer, East Harlem
* Where she goes for a bargain: KGB Deals (kgbdeals.com), which launched this year, offering discounts on “all the things you love to do, eat, wear and enjoy in your city.”
* Why she loves it: “I’m single and living in New York, which is expensive, and I’m not a fan of paying retail.” Green generally saves 50 to 75 percent off the full price of fitness classes and beauty indulgences. Anything less than that, she says, and it may not be worth it — “I can go to a place I already know is good, and pay full price.”
* Hot buys: Recently, she bought three laser-hair removal treatments for $99 (the full cost is normally $300) and a Brooklyn Bridge Boot Camp session for $39 for five classes (she later ended up paying the full $90 price for five more sessions because she liked it so much).
* Latest deal: A customized $90 facial for $45 at Destiny Beauty on the Upper East Side, and a credit for $36 worth of wings ’n’ beer at her favorite Upper West Side watering hole, Blondie’s — for $18.
THE SOCIAL SAVER
Noor Haji, 28, lawyer, Astoria
* Where she goes for a bargain: Groupon (Groupon.com) has discounts for things to “do, see, eat and buy” in 50 cities. Its New York list launched in May 2009 and now has 247,000 subscribers — and Groupon Brooklyn and Groupon Queens are coming soon.
* Why she loves it: She uses Groupon as much for the social opportunities it provides as for its savings. “The site provides a variety of ideas that you can do with friends,” she says.
* Hot buys: It also gives her ideas for activities that she normally wouldn’t think of, like a $20, two-hour class on how to choose and taste wine from New York Vintners (normally $45), and a $30, four-week Bollywood dance class, normally $60. (“I’m half-French and half-Indian,” she says, explaining that she appreciated learning more about her cultures.)
* Latest deal: She recently used Groupon for a night out at a restaurant in Long Island City using a certificate for half-off tapas and drinks. “I went with friends, the food was great, and I’ve been back since.”
THE STUDIOUS FOODIE
Kelsey Smith, 28, MBA student at NYU’s Stern School, East Village
* Where she goes for a bargain: LivingSocial (LivingSocial.com), which offers daily deals for “cool stuff,” like bars, restaurants, spas, and theater. The site launched last summer, and CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy says the number of subscribers in New York “has doubled nearly every month.”
* Why she loves it: She uses the site mostly to try out new restaurants — “ones that are a little more expensive than I could normally afford, but are much more feasible with a coupon.” With most deals about half off, the low cost makes it “completely easier to try new places. I’ve never been disappointed. I trust them — it’s like being told by a friend that a restaurant is good.”
* Hot buys: She’s scored $25 worth of food for $12 at the Organic Grill in the East Village, paid $20 for a $40 bar tab at Vintage Irving and recently bought into a $50 deal that gave her $100 worth of wine at Winebar in the East Village — “I’m so excited to check that place out.” Other recent offers from LivingSocial have included “spring cleaning” through Clarity Domestics: “three hours of luxury housekeeping for $47,” normally $99.
* Latest deal: “My friend had a birthday the other night and I had a half-off certificate [from LivingSocial] at a wine bar, so we went there.” Now most of her friends use the site, too.