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Buying decision

Best Time to Buy a Grill, Mower or Patio Set

Last verified · How we are paid

The short answer

Right now is the deepest window of the year for grills and patio furniture. Home Depot's grill event is reported to end September 9, 2026. Labor Day itself is September 7.

Where to buy

Ace Hardware if you want the grill assembled and delivered. Home Depot for grill selection and the deepest verified markdowns. Lowe's for patio sets. Costco if you want to be able to return it. Grand Patio pays 17% back on outdoor furniture. 5 7 9 13

When to buy

Now for grills and patio furniture. Mowers too: August and September clear the floor before snow blowers arrive. If you want the lowest price rather than the best choice, wait until October or Black Friday. 2 3 4 6

Codes

One real code here: Grand Patio TENMOMO, 10% off. We have no grill or mower partner, so no code for either. We looked for a working big-box grill code and found none. The markdown is the discount.

Cards

If you shop Costco, the Costco Anywhere Visa pays 2% back there with no annual fee on a paid membership. On a grill sold with store financing, skip any no interest if paid in full plan: an unpaid balance gets back-billed to day one. 11 12

Where to buy it

Retailer Cashback Code Good for Watch out
Ace Hardware 7 8 — — The only retailer here that puts the grill together for you. Grills at $399 and up get free assembly and free local delivery for Ace Rewards members, and the gas grill sale section was running 96 items when we checked. Rewards membership required, participating locations only, and inside the store's own delivery area. Char-Broil is excluded. Ship-to-home orders do not qualify, so you have to select delivery from store and assembly in the cart.
Home Depot 5 13 — — The deepest grill event we could verify: 215 grills at up to 29% off, with an end date of September 9, 2026 reported by a deal tracker. A Traeger wood pellet grill was reported down from $549 to $389. That September 9 date comes from a deal tracker, not from Home Depot, whose own pages would not load for us. The same block stopped us reading their return policy, so we cannot tell you the return window on a grill. Check both before you buy. The "up to 29%" is a ceiling, not a typical markdown.
Lowe's 13 — — The better of the two big boxes for outdoor furniture this week: up to 50% off select sofas, outdoor dining sets and patio umbrellas. The same gap as Home Depot. Lowe's return policy page would not open for us either, so its return window is unverified here. The source article carried no end date for the sale.
Costco 9 — — Buy here when you are unsure. Costco guarantees satisfaction on every product it sells, and grills, mowers and patio sets are not in the 90-day exception list that covers TVs, computers and major appliances. Seasonal outdoor stock is narrow and rotates out fast. Custom-manufactured special orders are excluded from returns. Membership required to buy at all.
Grand Patio 10 4 17% ◆ TENMOMO 10% off, Tenmomo members ◆ 10GP 10% off, first order ◆ Outdoor furniture only: umbrellas, sectionals, recliners, dining sets, pergolas. The Labor Day banner reads up to 60% off selected outdoor pieces, and the 17% cashback stacks on whatever the markdown turns out to be. Free shipping to the contiguous US, 30-day returns, one-year warranty. This is the end of the outdoor season, so stock is at its thinnest. New outdoor lines land between mid-March and mid-April, which means a sold-out piece is gone until spring. No grills, no mowers.

◆ Cashback rates and codes without a footnote come from Tenmomo's own affiliate-network feed, re-read on the date shown under Last verified.

When to buy it

This week, through Labor Day on Monday, September 7, 2026
The one window on this page with a hard date attached to it. Home Depot's grill event is reported by a deal tracker as running to September 9, which is the only date on this page that came with a number attached rather than an inference. Grand Patio is advertising up to 60% off outdoor furniture, and Lowe's up to 50% off outdoor dining sets and umbrellas. Consumer Reports calls Labor Day the last major chance of the year to find grills on sale, with sale prices holding for a couple of weeks after the holiday. 1 2 5 10 13
Grills: August through November, getting cheaper and thinner as it goes
Retailers clear grills to free warehouse space as the outdoor cooking season ends. DealNews puts the useful window at August through November and says to shop no earlier than August and no later than November. Selection narrows as the discounts deepen, so this is a straight trade between choice and price. 2 6
Lawn mowers: April, or August into September
Two separate windows for the same machine. Consumer Reports names April for sales and the widest selection, and says that if you miss it, look again in August and September, when there are fewer models but steeper discounts as stores clear old inventory to make room for snow blowers. 3
Patio furniture: Fourth of July through Labor Day
New outdoor furniture reaches retail floors between the middle of March and the middle of April, and stores want the old stock gone by August. That is why patio prices bottom out in exactly the weeks the season is ending, and why buying a patio set in May costs more than buying the same set now. 4
Black Friday, November 27, 2026
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 in 2026, so Black Friday is the 27th. DealNews rates Black Friday grill discounts as particularly deep precisely because grilling season is over by then. If your grill still works and you can wait ten weeks, this is the competing option. 1 6
April, if you are buying a mower and can wait
The spring window is the one to plan for rather than catch. Consumer Reports says shopping in April both takes advantage of sales and gives the widest selection, which is the opposite trade from the one on offer this month. 3

The long answer

Three products, three clocks, one week where they overlap

Grills, mowers and patio furniture are all seasonal, but they do not run on the same calendar. Patio furniture is cleared between the Fourth of July and Labor Day because new stock arrives in March and April. Grills clear from August onward as retailers free up warehouse space. Mowers clear in August and September specifically to make room for snow blowers, which is a different reason with a different deadline. Early September is the short stretch where all three are marked down at once. That is the whole argument for buying this week rather than next month. 2 3 4

Our two sources disagree about grills, and we are not going to hide it

Consumer Reports says Labor Day was the last major chance of the year to find grills on sale, though sale prices may hold for a couple of weeks after. DealNews says the window runs August through November and rates Black Friday as offering particularly deep grill discounts because the season is over. Both are defensible and they point at different weeks. The reconciliation we would offer, which neither source states: Labor Day is where discount and selection are both decent, and November is where the discount is deeper on whatever is left. If you want a specific model, that argues for now. If you want the lowest number and will take what is in stock, that argues for waiting. 2 6

On a grill, assembly and delivery can cost more than the discount

A gas grill arrives in a long flat box weighing well over a hundred pounds, and putting it together is an afternoon. Ace Hardware assembles it and delivers it locally at no charge on grills priced $399 and up, for Ace Rewards members, at participating stores inside their own delivery area. Char-Broil is excluded and ship-to-home orders do not qualify: you have to pick delivery from store and assembly in the cart. We did not find a comparable published offer at the other retailers on this page, though absence of a published offer is not proof one does not exist. 7

What "up to" is doing in every headline on this page

Up to 29% off across 215 grills means one grill is 29% off. Up to 50% off outdoor dining sets means one set is. Up to 60% off at Grand Patio means the same thing. None of these numbers describes the item you actually want. The way to use a clearance week is to pick the model first, write down what it costs today, and then judge the sale against that rather than against the banner. We did not price a single item ourselves, so every discount figure on this page is a retailer or reporter claim, not our measurement. 5 10 13

We have almost nothing to sell you in this category

Worth stating plainly, because it shapes everything above. We have one partner here with a working store page: Grand Patio, outdoor furniture, 17% back. We have no grill partner with a live page and no mower partner with a live page, so on two of the three products this page covers we earn nothing no matter what you do. That is why Ace Hardware, Home Depot and Lowe's are at the top. It is also why the code line says there is no code rather than pointing you at something marginal.

Store financing on a big outdoor purchase

Grills and riding mowers are the price bracket where store financing gets offered at the register. The CFPB describes the mechanic worth knowing: with a "no interest if paid in full in 12 months" deferred interest offer, failing to clear the whole promotional balance means interest going back to the purchase date is added to what is left. A true 0% APR offer only charges from the day the promotion ends. The two are advertised in nearly identical words. Separately, if Costco is where you shop, the Costco Anywhere Visa pays 2% back on Costco and Costco.com purchases with no annual fee on a paid membership, which is a rebate rather than a bet on paying the balance off in time. 11 12

Questions people ask

When do grills go on sale?

From August onward, and they keep getting cheaper into November as stock thins out. Labor Day is the point where discount and selection are both still decent. Consumer Reports calls it the last major chance of the year, with prices holding for a couple of weeks after the holiday. 2 6

What is the best time to buy a lawn mower?

April if you want the widest choice, August or September if you want the steeper discount. Consumer Reports names both, and the reason for the late-summer window is specific: stores are clearing mowers to make shelf space for snow blowers. 3

What is the best time to buy patio furniture?

Between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. New outdoor furniture lands on retail floors between mid-March and mid-April, so by August stores are trying to clear what is left. Buying the same set in spring costs more. 4

Is there a working grill coupon code?

Not one we can stand behind. We have no grill partner, and we found no working sitewide code at the big-box retailers on this page. On grills the markdown is the discount, so do not spend the evening hunting for a code that does not exist.

Should I buy now or wait for Black Friday?

Buy now if you want a specific grill, because the model you want will be gone. Wait if you only care about the number: DealNews rates Black Friday grill discounts as particularly deep because grilling season is over, and Black Friday 2026 is November 27. 1 6

Sources

  1. Federal Reserve — Bank holiday schedule (Labor Day 2026, Thanksgiving 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  2. Consumer Reports — 20 Products on Deep Discount in September (updated Sept 1, 2025) — accessed 2026-09-01
  3. Consumer Reports — How to Find the Best Deals on a Riding Lawn Mower (April 14, 2023) — accessed 2026-09-01
  4. NerdWallet — When Is the Best Time to Buy Furniture? outdoor section (updated Feb 26, 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  5. DealNews — Home Depot Labor Day Grill Deals: Up to 29% off — accessed 2026-09-01
  6. DealNews — When Do Grills Go On Sale? (updated Feb 26, 2025) — accessed 2026-09-01
  7. Ace Hardware — Free Grill Assembly & Delivery Services — accessed 2026-09-01
  8. Ace Hardware — Gas Grill Sales & Savings — accessed 2026-09-01
  9. Costco — Return policy — accessed 2026-09-01
  10. Grand Patio — Homepage, Labor Day banner and service terms — accessed 2026-09-01
  11. Citi — Costco Anywhere Visa Card, rates and annual fee — accessed 2026-09-01
  12. CFPB — How to understand special promotional financing offers on credit cards — accessed 2026-09-01
  13. Don't Waste Your Money — Great Labor Day sales at Lowe's, Home Depot, Macy's, Wayfair and more — accessed 2026-09-01

How we are paid

We rank this page by what saves you money, not by what pays us. Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe's and Costco are the top four and pay us nothing; we have no commercial relationship with any of them. Grand Patio is the one retailer here that does pay us a commission, and that commission is where the 17% cashback comes from. It is last on the list because it only sells outdoor furniture, which is one third of what this page is about. On grills and mowers we earn nothing from any recommendation we make here.

What we don't cover

  • Home Depot and Lowe's return windows. Both return-policy pages refused to load for us, including with a normal browser identity. We are not going to describe terms we could not read.
  • Grills and mowers as a cashback category. We have no partner with a working store page for either, so there is no rate to quote and no store page to send you to.
  • Other cashback portals. We do not track their rates, so we cannot say whether one of them pays more than we do on the same retailer.
  • Actual prices. We did not price a single model. Every discount figure here comes from a retailer banner or a reporter, and none of it is our own measurement.
  • Whether these sale windows repeat. One year of pages cannot prove an annual pattern. The calendar here rests on Consumer Reports and DealNews describing the industry cycle, not on a promise about 2027.
  • Riding mowers versus push mowers. The Consumer Reports timing we cite is from its riding mower guidance. We did not find equally specific published timing for push mowers.
  • Snow blowers, generators and fall garden stock. In season soon, out of scope here.
  • Store credit card perks beyond the one card we could source. We have no card-rate database, so this page names one card and stops.

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