With major chains like Tuesday Morning and Bed, Bath and Beyond going out of business you may have noticed ads for liquidation sales and great deals. We’re always looking for ‘Ways 2 Save’ you money, so Amy Davis went to the stores and came back with three things you need to know.
Are you really saving money at those big liquidation store sales?
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These going-out-of-business sales are also called liquidation sales when retailers are getting rid of everything inside. The discounts start small and get bigger week to week. But you have to be careful not to get so excited about saving money that you spend more than you should.
“A liquidation sale is when a store knows it’s going to close and it is trying to sell off everything on its shelves before it does, and that does include the shelves and display units themselves,” said Kristin McGrath, from the money-saving website Retailmenot.
#1 Think about timing
The first “way to save” at liquidation sales is all about timing. Liquidation sales can be really tricky for shoppers to navigate timing-wise. If you see a good deal. Should you wait? Or buy now?
McGrath says specialty items will go fast. Other items may stick around.
“If it’s a more generic item that you can get pretty much anywhere, it can be more strategic to wait because the days and I’m talking literal days right before that store actually closes is when you’re going to see the lowest prices,” said McGrath.
#2 Discounts can be deceiving
Some discounts can be deceiving. At one Tuesday Morning store, we found items with *new* higher price tags placed right over the old tags.
“You’ll see all kinds of weird things. You’ll see some prices getting marked up and then discounted,” said McGrath. “Basically, retailers and the third parties that are running these liquidation sales are just trying to get as much as they can for was ever on the shelves and sometimes hoping consumers don’t notice strange issues like that.”
#3 Watch for random items
When shopping liquidation sales you should also watch out for new random items added to the sale.
“They will sometimes bring some of those items that have never been sold at the store that you’re shopping at before and put them on shelves to just see if they can move it. For consumers, liquidation sales can be a little bit weird. It’s so different from their normal shopping experience.”
No returns and check back just in case
You probably know, there are no returns at liquidation sales.
Typically stores don’t restock during liquidation sales - but an “inside source” who works at FedEx told me they are shipping boxes daily to Bed Bath and Beyond stores around Houston, so you will be able to find new merchandise if you check back frequently.
Liquidation sales vs Liquidation stores
We’ve told you before about liquidation stores around Houston. These are not stores that are going out of business. Liquidation stores sell overstock merchandise from bigger-name stores. When we made a visit to a few of the liquidation stores in Houston we found items from Target, Nordstrom, and Kohls.
This is a great way to find home goods, clothing, electronics, and more.
You can also shop appliance scratch and dent liquidation stores to look for deals. Exactly how it sounds, appliances from these stores often work just find but may have outside bumps or blemishes.
