BBB in Chapter 11

[buckguy]

Apparently the crowds were because the "never expire" coupons, which I don't think I ever received, finally expired.

[BillyGr]

Apparently the crowds were because the "never expire" coupons, which I don't think I ever received, finally expired.

Unless you would rather use them at Big Lots

They sent an email (yesterday, I think) that they would take them for a couple weeks, and give you 20% off your whole purchase, as long as you spent $50 or more.

Of course, they offer 15 or 20% off coupons of their own (usually with no minimum), and are closing the closest store here anyway (not to mention that I can't remember getting a BBB coupon either, at least not in quite some time), so it was a pretty useless offer, but may be good for some.

[rwsandiego]

Stopped in to BBB today, as I was looking for a couple of Good Grips POP containers and I wanted to see if they had them. Despite the locusts having descended upon the place, they had two of the ones I wanted and so I bought them for 20% off. There were a few kitchen gadgets, (10% off, I think), a few cleaning supplies (10% off), and a couple of small electrics (a Breville countertop oven and some KitchenAid mixers) at 10% off. With the exception of an OXO thing here or a Farberware thing there all of the merchandise was their own brand, which nobody wants.

To be honest, the store didn't look much emptier than it did the time before last I shopped there. Last time, it was unusually well-stocked.

[storewanderer]

Stores are receiving merchandise from the liquidators as we speak and starting to get it out onto the floors.

I have been surprised how much private label junk they still have in their stores also. It appears to me the warehouses were loaded with this stuff. Nobody wants it. Why would they? It is Target copycat stuff at a higher price and seems to be lower quality than the stuff at Target and looks/feels cheaper than the stuff at Target (and I think the stuff at Target is largely junk, but looks good).

[rwsandiego]

Stores are receiving merchandise from the liquidators as we speak and starting to get it out onto the floors.

I have been surprised how much private label junk they still have in their stores also. It appears to me the warehouses were loaded with this stuff. Nobody wants it. Why would they? It is Target copycat stuff at a higher price and seems to be lower quality than the stuff at Target and looks/feels cheaper than the stuff at Target (and I think the stuff at Target is largely junk, but looks good).

I don't buy Target brand kitchen stuff for the reason you mentioned - it's good-looking junk. Thanks to having carpal tunnel syndrome, the grip on gadgets has to be just right so I buy Good Grips tools and gadgets. The fact that the BBB private-label stuff is worse quality than Target's is saying something. And what it's saying is NOT good.

On a high shelf at BBB was something I had never seen there before - two corrugated boxes of Tupperware. Wasn't interested enough to see what it was or how much it was. I was just happy to get the two containers I wanted.

I recently re-connected with an old friend and we started talking about the BBB bankruptcy. She reminded me that I used to say "I really prefer the 'n Things' to the ' and Beyond'."

[storewanderer]

I don't buy Target brand kitchen stuff for the reason you mentioned - it's good-looking junk. Thanks to having carpal tunnel syndrome, the grip on gadgets has to be just right so I buy Good Grips tools and gadgets. The fact that the BBB private-label stuff is worse quality than Target's is saying something. And what it's saying is NOT good.

On a high shelf at BBB was something I had never seen there before - two corrugated boxes of Tupperware. Wasn't interested enough to see what it was or how much it was. I was just happy to get the two containers I wanted.

I recently re-connected with an old friend and we started talking about the BBB bankruptcy. She reminded me that I used to say "I really prefer the 'n Things' to the ' and Beyond'."

The grip on gadgets also seem to last longer since they are a bit stronger/more substantial.

I was talking down those BBB private label items for years. I knew it was a total failed strategy to copy the Target style packaging, come up with similar brand names, etc. They are lucky Target didn't hit them with a big lawsuit. Target was probably smart enough to see the future and knew the retailer would go under so why waste time on a lawsuit and come out in headlines like some kind of bully if the media chose to spin it that way (not that protecting your package designs and brands should make you come off as a bully, but the media has its ways of swaying the narrative).

[ClownLoach]

Stores are receiving merchandise from the liquidators as we speak and starting to get it out onto the floors.

I have been surprised how much private label junk they still have in their stores also. It appears to me the warehouses were loaded with this stuff. Nobody wants it. Why would they? It is Target copycat stuff at a higher price and seems to be lower quality than the stuff at Target and looks/feels cheaper than the stuff at Target (and I think the stuff at Target is largely junk, but looks good).

Plus they reportedly sold hundreds of trailers loaded with this crap to Ollie's...

I am curious as to exactly how much money they sank into the private label line. Obviously they purchased multiple years worth of inventory to try to bring down the cost, but it's a surprise how bad the quality is compared to Target or even Walmart. There were tinny pots with cheap plastic handles replacing what used to be shelves of All-Clad. How hard was it to figure out that replacing $199.99 pots with $10.99 pots would lead to massive sales decreases coupled with gross deleverage of labor costs unless he could magically increase customer traffic a minimum of 2500%? Anyone who has about a year of experience as a drugstore Assistant Manager already knows the basics of retail. Tritton didn't know this? Someone who made this complete garbage that wouldn't pass Ross quality control got paid a lot of money to make this stuff, and I have a feeling based on the timing of that product arrival that they aren't waiting for their checks to arrive either.

[storewanderer]

Plus they reportedly sold hundreds of trailers loaded with this crap to Ollie's...

I am curious as to exactly how much money they sank into the private label line. Obviously they purchased multiple years worth of inventory to try to bring down the cost, but it's a surprise how bad the quality is compared to Target or even Walmart. There were tinny pots with cheap plastic handles replacing what used to be shelves of All-Clad. How hard was it to figure out that replacing $199.99 pots with $10.99 pots would lead to massive sales decreases coupled with gross deleverage of labor costs unless he could magically increase customer traffic a minimum of 2500%? Anyone who has about a year of experience as a drugstore Assistant Manager already knows the basics of retail. Tritton didn't know this? Someone who made this complete garbage that wouldn't pass Ross quality control got paid a lot of money to make this stuff, and I have a feeling based on the timing of that product arrival that they aren't waiting for their checks to arrive either.

Someone convinced Tritton that somehow selling a bunch of those $10.99 items that had a cost of $2 was better than selling the $199.99 items that had a cost of $120 due to all the profit going to the brand. Because remember, traffic was going to skyrocket due to the new brands and tons of new customers/younger customers were going to rediscover BBB.

Too bad not many people the crap and they barely could get rid of it at 80% off+extra 20% off (now you're below cost). I am noticing the low quality on the various Wild Sage items I purchased. Some of the stuff is actually fine, but some is just not. Absolutely lower quality than even the cheapest Wal Mart offering. Perhaps a small step up from Dollar Tree offerings in Wild Sage, but as far as their other brands went, I am not even sure of quality being better than Dollar Tree on some of their private label kitchen gadgets.

[Bluelightspecial]

Are all the BBB stores closed/closing now? I visited my parents in California this week and noticed that the local BBB had a store closing banner on it. Interesting since it looked like it had recently been remodeled and new exterior signs installed. Also interesting is that the store was a former Safeway marina style store that BBB remodeled. Their website is basically shut down, but says that some stores are still operating.

[rwsandiego]

Are all the BBB stores closed/closing now? I visited my parents in California this week and noticed that the local BBB had a store closing banner on it. Interesting since it looked like it had recently been remodeled and new exterior signs installed. Also interesting is that the store was a former Safeway marina style store that BBB remodeled. Their website is basically shut down, but says that some stores are still operating.

Yes. They made that announcement at the end of April. The liquidation sale started in early May.