NEW YORK (MainStreet) – Welcome to March, where shopping goes to die.

March is a lonely, desolate spot on the retail calendar when snowbound cold-state residents have been beaten into submission by the elements and even warm-state shoppers can't see the daylight leading to summer. According to the Census Bureau, when you take vehicle and auto parts sales out of the equation, March is typically in a dead heat with January, February and April for the slowest retail month on the calendar. Deals and motivation are at a minimum as both sides of the sales desk wait for things to heat up a bit.

Even an Easter boost isn't a given. In the past 20 years, Easter and the sales and splurges that come with it have landed in March only five times: 1997, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2013. In each of those years, March managed to eclipse February or April spending totals (or both). But history is riddled with April Easters (1994, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2012) when they same could be said. March spending didn't edge past summer, fall or holiday months in any of those years.

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Slow months for retailers mean there are deals kicking around somewhere. You just have to know where to find them. With help from the folks at Dealnews and Offers.com we found some of the few items actually worth buying this month. The usefulness of some of these items far eclipses others:

Chocolate
This is the one consensus item on the list, largely because it's fairly obvious.

Like wrapping paper after Christmas and beach chairs after Labor Day, chocolate after Valentine's Day is a huge deal. Unlike those previous two examples, though, there isn't a similar item waiting in the wings that makes retailers anxious to get it off the shelves.

Valentine's Day chocolate eventually has to yield to Easter chocolate, and never shall those lustful heart-shaped red boxes and innocent pastel packages of chocolate bunnies and creme-filled eggs meet. That's why Dealnews notes that chocolate sellers such as Godiva will drop prices by 40% or more in March just to clear overstock.

Winter clothes
See above. Seasonal items are always going to get a hardy shove out the door just before the season ends. Fleece and flannel are no exceptions.

Food, both fresh and frozen
National Frozen Food Month is real, people. The frozen food industry group knows the last place you want to be in early March is the frozen food aisle, which it why it has no misgivings about dropping prices just to get you to open a freezer.

This is typically a big month for frozen and canned foods as supermarkets attempt to clear stock, but as Offers.com spokesman Chris McGillicuddy reminds us, it's also the season for fresh broccoli, cauliflower, kale, grapefruits and oranges. If you resolved this year to start shopping for produce when it's actually in season this year, saving a bit on the items above is a great place to start.

Smartphones
The Mobile World Congress took place this month and, aside from giving tech folks reason to kick around Barcelona in March, it made a whole lot of mobile devices old news.

If you've already heard about Samsung Pay and updates to various Android devices, you should also be aware that the devices they're replacing are about to get some deep discounting. Samsung Galaxy S6? Why pay the $200 to $250 to lock yourself into a Verizon or Sprint plan now when the price of the S5 and a plan will plummet just before the new model is released April 10? Unless you're a die-hard first adopter, you can get a deal just by holding out until later this month.

Yes, Apple folks, we know: This doesn't apply to you and your fall-release iPhone. In your case, Dealnews suggest that those of you hooked up with Verizon to knock $10 a month off the price of your data plan by shifting to the carrier's new pricing system. Its 1-gigabyte, 2GB, 3GB and 4GB monthly plans all dropped $10 in price, but Verizon just responded by boosting its customers to the next-highest level.

Oh, and with Apple acknowledging that iPad sales aren't all they could be right now, there's a strong chance that Apple's retail partners will be offering deals on that device as well.

— Written by Jason Notte in Portland, Ore., for MainStreet

To follow the writer on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/notteham

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held TK positions in the stocks mentioned.