It’s a scene that looks a lot like America’s biggest shopping holiday, but the line outside of Daily Deals Carrollton builds every week with shoppers willing to endure a little bit of chaos to score some of the biggest bargains in North Texas.
“Today I got a vacuum sealer, a cordless vacuum cleaner,” said Daniel Raiford.
“Probably the best deal is this faucet timer. It’s like $90,” said Jackie Peck.
Here, all of it is just $12.
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The bin store is one of several liquidation businesses to take over old retail spaces across North Texas in the last several years.
“We get truckloads of overstock and returns of major retailers like Amazon, Kohl's, Walmart, Target,” said store manager Ali Almutawakel. “It’s almost Black Friday every weekend.”
Nearby in Lewisville, Quicklotz is stocked for its Friday rush.
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Everything from hair tools to pet supplies fill bins priced at $10. Small appliances lining the shelves start at $30.
As the week progresses, prices drop.
“They get to buy what they would have bought in any other department store, merchandise that's perfectly fine, and they're paying 50 to 90 percent off of regular retail prices,” said owner Samuel Pires.
It’s part of what’s known as recommerce, one of the fastest growing sectors of the retail industry, re-selling returns rather than sending them to landfills.
“The amount of stuff which is being returned is close to the tune of eight hundred and sixteen billion dollars,” said Chair of UNT Merchandising and Digital Retailing Program Sanjukta Pookulangara.
Pookulangara said that’s led to a surplus of items to resell as the cost to restock is often higher than the cost to discard.
“It’s not taking away from the industry in any form or way because the waste is going to get produced irrespective of whether we had the bin stores or not. I would not say it's 100% sustainable towards that kind of future, but it's definitely a right step towards it,” she said.
It’s not for the faint of heart. Shopping here requires digging.
Products are sold as is.
But for many, it’s about the experience and the chance to reap big rewards.
“I’ve been keeping record of the highest thing that we’ve found. It was a $5,000 Canon Camera,” said Almutawakel.
“Prices are so expensive, like, regular retail prices, and you come in here and everything today is 30 bucks. So, I mean, these are regular $200, $300 items. So, it's definitely worth it,” said shopper Adelle Green.
