American Notes NORTH CAROLINA

Forget Filene's Basement, forget Loehmann's. The ultimate in off-price shopping last week was to be found in Peachland, N.C. There, under the open sky, lay some 120 tons of used clothing at a price buyers could not refuse: free.

A clothing distributor in the Bronx had found it cheaper to turn rejects over to a trucker deadheading back to North Carolina than to dump the stuff in New York. Enterprising Wheeler-Dealer Lee ("Red") Wright spread the bales over a one-acre field. Last week Wright was collecting a $5 parking fee, then permitting ragpickers to take away whatever they could carry. There were a few drawbacks: no dressing rooms, no alterations, and the "as is" nature of the merchandise, a condition likely to worsen as time and weather take their toll. But never mind. Bargain hunters jamming local roads certainly did not.