I visited a discount store that sells Amazon and Target returns and it felt like treasure hunting. Here's what I found.

Insider's Aaron Mok at Crazy Hot Deals
Insider's Aaron Mok at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals.
  • Everyday Crazy Hot Deals is a liquidation center that buys and resells returned merchandise.
  • Items from places like Target are sold at a discount, with prices varying based on day of the week.
  • You can find everything from electronics to kitchenware to furniture. 

Ever wonder what happened to those clothes you ordered online that don't fit quite right or the phone case that you decided is kind of ugly? They may be resold at a liquidation center for cheap. 

For a long time, returns were a headache for retailers, leading to boxes of opened goods piled up in a corner. Now, many major retailers like Amazon and Target are outsourcing their returns to liquidation centers so they can extract every last penny from their products and give them a second life. 

Insider's Aaron Mok visited a liquidation center in January in Long Island, New York, and spent hours sorting through apparel, electronics, office supplies, and other miscellaneous products to find the best deals. 

Here is what he found. 

I visited Everyday Crazy Hot Deals in Bethpage, New York, on three different days in January to see how the products vary.
The entrance of Crazy Hot Deals in Bethpage, New York.
The entrance of Everyday Crazy Hot Deals in Bethpage.

Source: KJOY 98.3 

I went the store, which opened last September, for the first time on an early Saturday afternoon. When I walked in, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff available.
crazy hot deals bins on a saturday
The bins at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals are aligned in vertical rows.
Since I went on a Saturday, every item in the store — with some exceptions — was priced at $12. The price gets cheaper as the week approaches Thursday, the day the store gets restocked. Items are most expensive on the weekends once new inventory is added.
Crazy Hot Deals prices
A sign with the daily set prices on a wall inside the store.
The bins weren't organized by product category, so I sifted through piles of random items mixed together. The most common items I saw were boxes of face masks.
crazy hot deals bins on a saturday (side angle)
The bins were not organized by product type and were filled with random items.
I didn't have anything in particular I wanted to buy, so I haphazardly scanned the bins in search of items that stood out to me. Some of the things that caught my eye were a gratitude journal, the board game Operation, cockroach-killing bait, a vibrator, creepy Halloween costume masks, and some wigs.
clown mask and wigs at crazy hot deals
This bin contained a random assortment of items, including a clown mask and wigs.
Many of the packages were ripped, empty, or missing an item.
broken hairdryer box at crazy hot deals
A broken hair-dryer package I found in the bins.
Customers are not allowed to open sealed packages. If they want to know what's inside, they must bring the items to the customer-service booth, where an employee will open them.
customer service station at crazy hot deals
One of two customer-service stations at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals.
While the majority of bins contained a random assortment of stuff, some items were organized by type with special deals, like this rack of clothing ...
clothes rack at crazy hot deals
Customers can buy two items of clothing for $10 on Saturday and three items for $10 on Sunday.
... and this shopping cart filled with notebooks. Five notebooks cost $1.
car full of notebooks at crazy hot deals
A shopping cart full of notebooks, selling at five for a dollar.
There were also containers of makeup sold at $3 apiece ...
make up at crazy hot deals
Makeup for $3 each.
... and these iPhone and Android phone cases — including popular brands like Otter — that were priced at five for $2.
bin of iphone cases at crazy hot deals
A bin of iPhone cases that cost $2 for five.
There were even boxes of Halloween candy like Haribo gummy bears and Reese's peanut-butter cups. The bags of candy I looked at were not expired, though the store has a sign warning customers to check the expiration date before purchasing any food.
bins of candy and mouth wash at crazy hot deals
Bins of Halloween candy and a bin with bottles of mouthwash.
Some of the "organized" bins were just as sloppy as the regular ones, like this plastic container filled with tangled-up cords, cables, and laptop chargers.
box full of random wires and cables at crazy hot deals
A box full of random wires and cables.
Exceptions to the set-price rule included items like furniture and big boxes of toys.
furnitue at crazy hot deals
Furniture sold at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals.
The most expensive items I saw were electronics, like a Google Nest Doorbell and a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, near the cash register. Each was priced at $150.
expensive electronics near cashier at crazy hot deals
Expensive electronics near the cashier were $150 each.
As I was browsing the store, an employee pulled out a fresh bin of stuff that all the shoppers picked through.
flock of ppl at new bin at crazy hot deals
Shoppers gathered around a bin filled with new items.
While some people may come just to buy cheap stuff, the store said it encourages shoppers to buy things that they can resell individually at a higher price. There were a few shoppers who looked like teenagers looking up the price of items on their phones and discussing whether they could resell them on TikTok.
action figurines at crazy hot deals
A collection of Marvel "WandaVision" action figures.

Source: Crazy Hot Deals

After spending nearly an hour and a half carefully looking through each bin, I wasn't able to find anything I liked that I thought was worth $12 that day. So I decided to go back on a Wednesday when everything is a dollar.
a bin full of winter boots at crazy hot deals
A bin full of winter boots.
When I visited again the following Wednesday, the bins contained less stuff, and the things that remained were even more random than before. Many of the items were broken packages or loose parts that came from the original product.
random assortment of loose items at crazy hot deals (wed)
A random assortment of stuff in a bin on a Wednesday, when everything costs $1, unless stated otherwise.
But I was excited to get a sneak peek at the new inventory, which included things like a toy Mustang convertible and a box set of kitchen appliances wrapped in plastic packaging. There were also bins covered by blankets that were filled with fresh stuff.
inventory thats gonna be stocked on thursday at crazy hot deals
Inventory wrapped in plastic packaging that will be unveiled on Friday, the day after restocking.
After I spent roughly 30 minutes browsing the sparse bins with no success, I decided that I would come back one more time on a Friday, when the store is restocked with new inventory.
new bins that are covered at crazy hot deals
Bins covered with blankets that contain fresh inventory.
I arrived at the store on the following Friday around 11 a.m., and it was packed with people. Each bin was overflowing with new stuff.
bins filled with boxes the day after restock day
A packed store with bins filled with new items after restock day.
When I got there, the store was doing its first restock of the day. Dozens of shoppers gathered around the covered bins as they waited for an employee to unveil them.
ppl gathered around bins waiting for them to be unveiled (V2)
Dozens of shoppers gathered around the covered bins waiting to see the new merch.
Speaking through a megaphone, an employee thanked everyone for coming and briefly explained some ground rules to ensure that everyone had a safe shopping experience.
ppl gathered around bins waiting for them to be unveiled
Shoppers lined up around bins as they listened to an employee lay out the store's ground rules.
After the employee finished his speech, he told everyone to put their hands up. On a count of three, the employees yanked the blankets away and a horn blared, signaling that shopping could begin.
shoppers at crazy hot deals
Shoppers quickly grabbed items and threw them into their carts.
Shoppers immediately grabbed whatever was available and tossed the items into their carts to sort through later. Carts were filled with boxes big and small — one even contained a bicycle.
shoppers with tons of stuff in their carts at crazy hot deals
Many shoppers filled their carts to the brim to sort through later.
As people were hunting for the best items, an employee with a megaphone announced raffle numbers. Winners were given $50 to spend at the store.
raffle ticket to win $50 at crazy hot deals
The winner of the raffle gets $50 to spend at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals.
This time around, I found many items I was interested in buying, from a box of college-ruled journals to an electric blanket.
bins restocked with new inventory at crazy hot deals
Restocked bins at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals on a Friday morning.
Every time I found something I liked, I was hit with a rush of excitement, which only motivated me to keep looking for more stuff with deeper precision.
shang chi + other random things at crazy hot deals
A DVD of the Marvel movie "Shang Chi."
After I spent an hour flipping through bins, I forced myself to stop looking and went to purchase the items with my family. The cashier counted how many items were in the cart and then multiplied the number by 12 to calculate the price. We were shocked to learn that our bill was more than $300.
all the stuff we bought at crazy hot deals
My family and I spent more than $300 on stuff.
Even though I was happy with the things I found, I was left with a nagging feeling that I spent too much money on items I didn't need. But overall, I found shopping there to be a fun, weirdly exhilarating experience.
some things i got at crazy hot deals
Some things I bought at Everyday Crazy Hot Deals include two blankets, a giraffe mug, a storage bin, and a box of journals.
Read the original article on Business Insider


Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/MjZHJEb
I visited a discount store that sells Amazon and Target returns and it felt like treasure hunting. Here's what I found. I visited a discount store that sells Amazon and Target returns and it felt like treasure hunting. Here's what I found. Reviewed by mimisabreena on Sunday, June 25, 2023 Rating: 5

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