With July 4th weekend already upon us, retailers have started rolling out a rash of sales designed to help consumers get ready to host weekend barbecues and other holiday events. In years past, Independence Day sales have traditionally served up solid deals on summer gear. Be aware, many of these sales are meant to capture the attention of casual shoppers, not necessarily deal hunters.

While it’s obviously not going to be Black Friday quality in terms of the average discount percentage, you will see some discounts on summer apparel as well as an increase in discounts on patio furniture, outdoor decorations and large appliances. As we pointed out in our what to buy in July article, summer apparel sales kick off this week and will continue aggressively throughout the month as store clear out room for back-to-school Fall clothing lines.

However, we aren’t just going to provide you with a few quips about what product categories you should buy right now or wait to buy in a few months. Our veteran deal editors have started analyzing each Independence Day sale in order to evaluate the quality. We don’t want you to spend your limited free time shopping when you could be relaxing in the sun and enjoying your holiday weekend!

When we evaluate a sale, we are approaching it with two questions in mind:

Combined with our expert knowledge on current product prices and our deal history data, we use these two questions to assign each retailer sale a letter grade (A, B, C, D and F). We will also tell you why it’s either excellent or lacking in substance. (We will continue to update these lists as July 4th approaches.)

While these grades are specific to the overall quality of the sale, we’ve also cherry picked the best deals from the ads (Graded C or higher) in order to help you focus in on specific products.

(Click the headers in the table to sort by grade or store.)

[table caption=”2014 July 4th Sale Grades” width=”620″ colwidth=”40|10|50″ colalign=”center|center|center”]
Store,Grade,Reasoning

Amazon,D,Standard discounts with little of note – most items have been posted on Ben’s for lower prices in the past few months.

Bloomingdales,B,Fantastic deals in the Kitchen and Home sections – particularly on knife sets. Notable Deals: 20% to 65% off in Sale + Extra 25% off

Dell,A,PC sale is typical of Dell – however the sale on HDTVs is fantastic due to included gift cards with purchase. Notable Deals: $448 Samsung 40-inch with $200 Gift Card | $228 32-inch with $150 gift card

KMart,B,Excellent prices on summer apparel as well as $10 off $35 on shoe purchases. Notable Deals: $11 Wrangler Men’s Denim Carpenter Shorts

H&M,A,Insanely cheap prices on summer apparel which are driven down even more when visiting in-store. Notable Deals: July 4th Sale Items

Home Depot,B,Great deals on expensive appliances for the kitchen as well as solid prices on outdoor items. Notable Deals: $1.99 60-lb Quikrete Concrete Mix | $998 Maytag 24.8 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator

Lowe’s,B,Excellent deals can be found when combining discounts on special items with coupons. Notable Deals: Up to 50% off Special Value Items + Extra $10 off $50

Macy’s,D,Sales are standard – no standouts to celebrate July 4th weekend. Additional 20% off isn’t very effective on full MSRP prices.

Newegg,B,Solid deals on networking products as well as printers and smartphones. Notable Deals: $20 Buffalo AirStation Wireless Router | $60 Nokia Lumia 521 No-Contract Smartphone 

Target,C,20% off on patio furniture is nice – however prices are still higher than competitors (Sears and Home Depot).

Tilly’s,B, BOGO on women’s swimwear and all clearance items + free shipping. Notable Deal: Red Tag Clearance Items

Walmart,C,Most deals are average and around the same price as normal – however patio sets are discounted more heavily. Notable Deals: Patio Furniture Sets

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Be sure to check back for updates as we get closer to Independence Day. In addition, be sure to check out the Ben’s deal feed to see the most recent batch of deals from online retailers. You can also set up a deal alert here in order to get informed over email when the price on a product drops to a price you are comfortable with.

What are the best July 4th Sales This Year?