Are bargain closeout stores disappearing?

[bcla]

Thanks, BCLA. Definitely in CA and you're right about Pic N Save. I didn't remember how it was spelled. We also had one Bargain Circus before the 99 Cent Only Store took over. Pre Covid, there were a couple QBargain stores and one Dollar K store, all smaller than 99 or Dollar Tree. Now we have a couple Dollar Kings and Dollar Trees. I look forward to going back to both God willing once I'm out and about again, feet issues. Happy bargain shopping to all

Oh - I remember it really well. There weren't too many near my home, but I remember there was a store in the town where my uncle lived. During visits we'd go there and my family found some interesting stuff there occasionally.

Later on I had a college summer/part-time job doing transportation logistics. Nothing to do with my future jobs, but I got spending money out of it. But Pic 'N Save was one of our customers where we arranged shipment of their products in standard sized containers. Even then I remember that they were operating stores in Northern California as MacFrugals they were still going by Pic 'N Save as their corporate name. I think MacFrugals became their corporate name although they maintained a lot of stores as Pic 'N Save in Southern California.

I was also mistaken about how it went down. The company that owned Big Lots bought them out and eventually converted most stores to Big Lots.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-06-fi-50687-story.html​

Nov. 6, 1997 12 AM PT​

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Consolidated Stores Corp., the nation’s largest close-out retailer, on Wednesday said it will buy Mac Frugal’s Bargains-Closeouts Inc., parent of Pic ‘N’ Save stores, in a $995-million stock deal that would create a nationwide chain of discount stores.​

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Dominguez-based Mac Frugal’s, the No. 2 close-out retailer, has dominated the close-out retail business on the West Coast, especially since 1995 when its stores began carrying brand-name items at about 40% to 70% less than discount giants Wal-Mart and Kmart, among others.​

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Consolidated Stores, based in Wilmington, Del., operates about 1,940 stores in all 50 states, primarily Kay-Bee toy stores. Consolidated also operates the Odd Lots and Big Lots close-out discount chains in the Midwest.​

 

[kanerf]

Check out Ollie's. They seem to be doing fine and opening new stores.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Have you heard of Factory2U? That was another favorite bargain closeout store that was a favorite of my mom and I and they actually had good stuff and every time we went to Factory2U we would always come out with bags of amazing bargains. For a while Factory2U was gonna close all it's stores but another company bought Factory2U and they were saved from closing and when they debuted in the 80's Factory2U began life as Family Bargain Center but they changed their name in the 90's but has stores in California Nevada Texas New Mexico and Arizona

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I've heard of Ollie's, Kanerf from friends back east. I don't think there are any here in LA. It has sounded like a fun store which I hope it is.

Thanks, BCLA. Pic N Save, I vaguely remember having items for under a quarter. Grandpa really enjoyed going there so ir was special to me.

 

[RangerPooh]

We have both TJ Max, 5 Below, Big Lots, Burlington, and Ollies in the same shopping center. I assume Big Lots is closing, they always have less traffic than the other two. I only go to 5 Below and TJ Max. In the shopping center next door there's Pop Shelf, Dollar Tree, and some sort of discount store with bins and dented appliances. Again, I only go to Pop Shelf, it's clean and well stocked.

Discount stores are all over the Memphis area, but quality and cleanliness varies by location. I avoid most [Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, Bargain Hunt, $.99 discount, Treasure...] like the plague due to rude staff or dirtiness. If I'm in a rural area I'll gladly hit up Dollar General, but in the city, nope. The discount and bargain is rarely worth the trip.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I know it would be difficult but would love if Dollar Tree had a regular website that allowed customers to buy one of a specific item. For example, have a selection of individual jigsaw puzzles online or even one design of 6 notecards. I also get bulk ordering in cases is much easier and probably cheaper. As far as I know any other website does allow purchases of specific items. Yes, I have suggested this to Dollar Tree years ago. Maybe I will do so again one dat to come

 

[bcla]

Just to reminisce, I do remember this one chain called "Character Depot" or "Character Warehouse". I think it was a chain - might have been based in Tennessee. Might have also had a few other previous names that involved Disney, but that might have been stopped by issues with trademarks. Their big thing was Disney merchandise, although they also had other mostly cartoon character stuff like LooneyToons.

I'd heard about the store in Fullerton, California on the Disneyland forum here, but never went there. But they also had a location at one of the two main outlet malls in Las Vegas. But it was weird. It wasn't in the main location which was an indoor mall, but in this strip mall style annex. Saw some random odds and ends - mostly Disney but also some others. I only visited when they were in the process of closing. A lot of stuff there was really cheap but it seemed a bit sad. I found a Yelp page for the Fullerton location and the place in Vegas actually had its own blog, which is still up even though the store is closed.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/disneys-character-warehouse-outlet-store-fullerton
http://characterdepotlasvegas.blogspot.com

I'm thinking there were quite a bit of this type of store. What I remember hearing was about lots of odds and ends that might have been through traditional store products, but also they managed to get some older Disney parks merchandise that didn't sell.

 

[RangerPooh]

These were often short lived and temporary, a matter of weeks before moving to another location. There was a mailing list that you could get on, but we never seemed to get notified. We'd learn here or on anther site that one was coming to Spokane. We did get some good things at considerable discounts which was nice.

 

[bcla]

I guess it depends on what kind of closeouts. I do remember when Polo Ralph Lauren had a "pop up" clearance store at this local outlet mall. They had a traditional outlet store too in the same mall, but this one was barebones. And some of the deals were crazy good. I bought a real Polo branded pique, collared shirt for less than $14. The only caveat was that all sales were final. Some of the colors were a bit weird, but that was OK.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I don't know if they are really disappearing where I live. We have a few TJ Maxx, Ross, Home Goods, and Burlington. But the one I shop at the most is Sierra Trading.

 

[Gracedis1]

I was sad to see that Tuesday Morning stores closed. I could often find unique things there.