On your mark, get set... (K-Mart & YMMV)

[wibambau]

Thursday 1/30/03 marks the beginning of the Going-Out-Of-Business sales at 318 K-Mart stores across the nation, according to the news. Now I don't know what kind of deals to expect, but potentially some great deals.

Here is the list of 318 stores that are going down.

Good luck.

 

[UF Jspec]

Hmm, this ought to be interesting at the very least.

 

[LyNeX]

Local K-Mart isn't one listed. Damn, and I wanted to pick up some cheap Gaming equipment.

 

[XCLAN]

Originally posted by: LyNeX
Local K-Mart isn't one listed. Damn, and I wanted to pick up some cheap Gaming equipment.

WOW!. excuse me for being such an a$$, but I cant believe you would want dozens , if not hundreds of people in yer town to be unemployed just so you can save a couple dollars.
That my friends is the kinda attitude ruinning our country.

 

[deramon]

Please don't take such comments literally. And besides a closed K-mart just means that a wal-mart, sam's club, costco, home depot ... now have a new location ...

 

[Jmman]

What kind of deals can we expect? There is a closing store in my city, but still a long drive for nothing if there aren't any deals...

 

[nsafreak]

Liquidators, like anybody else, want to get their share of the pie. From what I have heard they are going to start by discounting everything 10% off original price. This may be higher or lower in your area as I suppose it could vary from liquidator to liquidator so YMMV. They'll stay at that percentage as long as possible and then drop down to probably 20% although it may be a possible 30% and go from there. I've heard various dates of the last day stores will generally open varying from late March to late April again YMMV and this will probably affect the rate at which the liquidator brings down the percentage.

 

[arcas]

Two of the three K-Marts in my area closed during the last set of shutdowns. They used liquidators to handle the sales. If you're not familiar with liquidators, they typically bring in truckloads of additional wares from gawd knows where. These guys know exactly what they're selling and how much the stuff is worth so if it doesn't sell at site A, they'll just load it back up on a truck and try to sell it at the next sale on their schedule. The store markdowns progressed in stages. 30% then 50% after a few weeks. I think it reached 75% but by the time they reached 50%, there wasn't much original K-Mart items remaining. Whether it all sold or whether they trucked it away in hopes of selling it elsewhere rather than mark it down 50% I cannot say.

When the local Service Merchandise shut down, they also brought in liquidators who did the same thing: The sale went on for weeks even though the store itself was rather small. They'd continue to bring in truckloads of stuff and locals would happly scarf it up thinking they were getting great deals.

 

[Kevin]

You know employees are going to get the best deals in these kinds of situations...

 

[thinlizzie]

So where is the hot deal??? Post count I guess...

 

[S13SilviaK]

This never ends up being a good deal for us or the employees, we all end up getting the shaft while Kmart either marks items 10-20% above value only to then mark them down come chapter 11 time, or they ship them off to another loaction where they don't have to mark it down at all.

 

[Nutzo]

If it's anything like the other stores that have gone out of business around here, they'll mark every thing up to list price, then discount it 10% (making it just as high or higher than it was originally).

By the time they hit 15% off, anything worth buying will be cleaned out by the idiots who think they are getting a good deal

 

[mtgcollector01]

When service merchandise closed down, on the last day, I got a few good deals. Here's how.

I wasn't sure how they were gonna run their game, but I guessed that they would start at 25%, then slowly move forward to 50% off everything. Boy, was I wrong (and happy)!

First thing in the morning, I started filling my shopping cart with things that I didn't really need but were worth it for 25% off. I pulled the last tabs for two Big Screen TVs, 3 Home theatre systems, and various other expensive items. I continued shopping, and a few hours later (2 hours before close), they made the announcement, "50% off everything, except electronics!" Darn. 0 me, 1 SM. Shop some more, 1 hour before close "75% off, except electronics!" Darn. 0 me, 2 SM. 30 min below close, "90% off, 50% off electronics!" I went up to the checkout line, ready to go home. The line was loooong with like 40 people in front of me. Then, 10 min before close, "90% off EVERYTHING!" 100 me, 2 SM. I was ecstatic. I probably picked up 10K worth of stuff that day for around 1000 dollars.

Sorry about that brag, but I think if you really wanna get the good deals is go in early the last morning of being open and stuff your cart with expensive stuff. I'm not sure if SM works the same as Kmart but who knows, if that Kmart is the only in your area you might get lucky. It's worth a shot. And I don't wanna hear any of that "Oh you were being selfish" crud, because if I wouldn't have gotten it, someone else would have, and my current electronics were about 12 years old at the time. I urge everyone to take advantage of any "hot" deal at a store closing.

 

[tranceport]

Originally posted by: Jmman
What kind of deals can we expect? There is a closing store in my city, but still a long drive for nothing if there aren't any deals...

A co-worker bought out their supply of some digital camera's. We had a laptop in the truck dialed up with our sprint phones checking price watch for prices. He was getting them for %50 - %80 off.

It might be worth the drive.

 

[tranceport]

Originally posted by: mtgcollector01
When service merchandise closed down, on the last day, I got a few good deals. Here's how.

I wasn't sure how they were gonna run their game, but I guessed that they would start at 25%, then slowly move forward to 50% off everything. Boy, was I wrong (and happy)!

First thing in the morning, I started filling my shopping cart with things that I didn't really need but were worth it for 25% off. I pulled the last tabs for two Big Screen TVs, 3 Home theatre systems, and various other expensive items. I continued shopping, and a few hours later (2 hours before close), they made the announcement, "50% off everything, except electronics!" Darn. 0 me, 1 SM. Shop some more, 1 hour before close "75% off, except electronics!" Darn. 0 me, 2 SM. 30 min below close, "90% off, 50% off electronics!" I went up to the checkout line, ready to go home. The line was loooong with like 40 people in front of me. Then, 10 min before close, "90% off EVERYTHING!" 100 me, 2 SM. I was ecstatic. I probably picked up 10K worth of stuff that day for around 1000 dollars.

Sorry about that brag, but I think if you really wanna get the good deals is go in early the last morning of being open and stuff your cart with expensive stuff. I'm not sure if SM works the same as Kmart but who knows, if that Kmart is the only in your area you might get lucky. It's worth a shot. And I don't wanna hear any of that "Oh you were being selfish" crud, because if I wouldn't have gotten it, someone else would have, and my current electronics were about 12 years old at the time. I urge everyone to take advantage of any "hot" deal at a store closing.

We had a SM go out here. You suck cause you got the bomb @$$ deal and I didn't

 

[J3anyus]

Welp, I guess I better drop by tomorrow and see what I can pick up from the electronics department.

 

[squirrel dog]

Thats a lot of stores.

 

[Kenshinn]

you're damn right Ill be the first in line waiting to get a cheap cube or xbox

 

[Spurst]

ours died a while back. the deals arent that great until nearly everything you'd want is either gone, or trashed. If you want a computer desk, or office supplies, you can get them cheap after like a month. The first day they are going out of business is like 10% off, and it progresses by 10% a week or something like that. I think ours ended at 70 or 80% off.

 

[GnatGoSplat]

Neither of the Super K's where I live are slated for shutdown, but I went yesterday in the afternoon and it was DEAD. Probably no more than 5-7 customers in the whole store. Only 2 checkout lanes open too.
I wonder how they're staying open at all, and I'm actually quite shocked the local ones aren't closing.

 

[huesmann]

Well, the 'lectronics at K-Mart aren't exactly high-end...

 

[lupi]

woo hoo. One of my local super k's is on the list.

 

[Hummercash]

I'll prolly stop by the Windsor, CT store when i go to pick my sister up from school later today... maybe ill get lucky and find a good deal or two


.//chris

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: Kenshinn
you're damn right Ill be the first in line waiting to get a cheap cube or xbox

good luck, most of the time there isn't any of these left, kmart ships em out to other stores

I work at walmart and when the kmart closed last year, we took cash and went and bought all of thier remaining gaming systems because it was cheaper than we could get them for.

 

[popeye44]

Every Kmart here in fresno closed the last go round.. I never found anything worth while and in the very last days when the discounts went deeper there was nothing on the shelves. the first month or so the liquidators came there really wasn't anything at 20% or 30% except clothes. sucked big time.