Returns Stores

[storewanderer]

A store opened in a recently closed CVS in Sparks called "Falling Prices." This is a NorCal operator who has a deal with Amazon and Target to take returns. They just have banners but they put a new cement floor into the CVS so they spent some money on the thing (didn't demolish pharmacy, but I think they did remove the refrigeration).

They are open 5 days a week and every item in the store is the same price and every day the price goes down.

They sell memberships to get you in the door faster on days when the price goes down or something. They also have a separate business with a separate entry that does "auctions" of whatever "better" items they get.

So Saturday all items are 25 cents, according to the sign in the window. So I decided to go in. Then they close Sunday-Monday to "restock."

So today Saturday they have basically 80% of the store roped off by caution tape and have just maybe 10-12 bins with merchandise in them accessible to customers. The other bins in the area roped off by caution tape are being stocked full but customers cannot access those items which I guess are new merchandise. It was funny to watch them stock the new merchandise in the inaccessible area- they have pallets/crates and they are using big snow shovels to move the stuff around.

[Bagels]

Seems like a common way of selling Amazon returns. I’ve been in several places that used the same concept. One was in a former anchor store at a mall on the border of Iowa/Nebraska - I think it was called Bins. They purchased large pallets from Amazon and allegedly put them on the floor without checking out their contents, saying you could score some incredible bargains. The price of everything in the bin kept dropping until it was sold.

[Brian Lutz]

There's a similar place here in Greensboro, most of the stuff in the bins is junk but every once in a while you can find something decent. I did buy a ceiling fan there for around $20 off the regular Home Depot price, but when I went to assemble it I found that it was missing a critical piece that renders the whole thing basically useless.

[Romr123]

Funny, just noticed a bunch of these popping up in some of the disused strip centers over in Macomb county (not quite as many disused strip centers in our neighborhood).

[mbz321]

Yep, these places are everywhere....some are stores with literal stuff dumped in bins, others are a bit more organized. Some of these operations seem to be mainly made up of Target merchandise, which again, is a little scary that Target has this much excess merchandise (one near me sometimes seems to get Target store-operating supplies mixed in as I've seen them have unused Target plastic bags at the registers, paper, blank price signs with the Target logo on them that the store uses and fills in with a Sharpie, a 'Security Cameras in Use' sign clearly from the outside of a Target...it's pretty strange).

[storewanderer]

Yep, these places are everywhere....some are stores with literal stuff dumped in bins, others are a bit more organized. Some of these operations seem to be mainly made up of Target merchandise, which again, is a little scary that Target has this much excess merchandise (one near me sometimes seems to get Target store-operating supplies mixed in as I've seen them have unused Target plastic bags at the registers, paper, blank price signs with the Target logo on them that the store uses and fills in with a Sharpie, a 'Security Cameras in Use' sign clearly from the outside of a Target...it's pretty strange).

Target is doing less and less in-store clearance. Also when Target does remodels and they do resets, pull merchandise, etc., the items just end up being "dumped" and given to these parties.

I am wondering if Target is giving these parties more products rather than dealing with Goodwill as they previously did for this activity.

One place I've never seen any Target product: Grocery Outlet.

[mbz321]

One place I've never seen any Target product: Grocery Outlet.

I've actually seen some 'Favorite Day' prepackaged donut holes and such at Grocery Outlet every now and then, but I've never seen any other Target brand items either.

[BillyGr]

One place I've never seen any Target product: Grocery Outlet.

I've actually seen some 'Favorite Day' prepackaged donut holes and such at Grocery Outlet every now and then, but I've never seen any other Target brand items either.

That seems logical, since those types of items would be more time-sensitive to get rid of than most things in Target. Thus, whatever place is the easiest/closest to get them to.

[storewanderer]

This returns store in Sparks seems to be handling exponentially more Target product than Amazon product. I cannot believe the amount of Target product this store is getting.

For weeks now they are getting pallets and pallets of what look like fall clothes and shoes. What is more interesting is a lot of these clothes do not sell until the 25 cents day on Saturday.

This week they got a ton of back to school stuff. Normally Thursday is $2 per item. However due to the glut of products the notebooks/folders were 22 for $2.

This notebooks and folders were Up and Up, Mead Five Star, and various other brands. I got 22 of them and then looked them all up on the Target app and the total value of these at Target's clearance (app said 30% off) was $65. So total cost at Target's regular prices of like $90. And sold by this returns store for $2.

The other funny thing this week is somehow they got in some refrigerated product. They got in pallets of some kind of lunchables thing or something. So this store being a former old smelly Longs has a fairly large bank of coolers on the back wall with walk in and they were using those for that stuff.