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Initial reports: City Sports clearance sale not much of a sale yet
By adamg on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 4:49pm
Tweet Cheeks reports from the Back Bay City Sports: They've only marked stuff down 10%. Ditto at the Downtown Crossing outlet, MG reports. Savvy going-out-of-business-sales fans know the deep discounts don't start the first day - and even when they do, be wary, because liquidation pros sometimes mark stuff up first so they don't lose out that much when they mark it down.
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Comments
some 20% discounts
The Comm Ave/BU location has some 20% discounts this afternoon, including swimsuits (what I went in to check out). But yeah, I am holding out for the time being....
unfortunately, the City
unfortunately, the City Sports t-shirts are pretty much all gone. DTX had a small handful of only XXL and that was it.
AND
Liquidation is in-store only, the website has completely shut down sales.
Gym
a few guys at my Gym in DTX were talking about how lousy it was. And remember yeah the percentage may go up over the next week or so, but by that time most of the good stuff will be gone.
Used a gift card.
Scored some nice dri-fit socks. Good luck to all you suckers waiting to scavenge over the slim pickings that remain at the end of your wait for the perfect discount.
10-30% at the Harvard Square
10-30% at the Harvard Square store, and nothing has been marked up from the prices a few weeks ago.
No sale
Savvy going-out-of-business-sales fans know that these kinds of sales never have good bargains. You may get 25% or so, but you probably won't get deep discounts. They'll make more selling product to a liquidator than they will selling new merchandise to the public at 75% off....
What's the point of a 10% City Sports discount?
Anything you could buy would still be 20% more expensive than other options.
20% for me
I picked up a pair of YakTrax Pro at the Bromfield Street City Sports today, and they were 20% off (resulting in a price of $24 plus tax). Maybe I could have gotten them for less if I waited longer, but there was only one of them left on the shelf and it was in the size I needed, so I grabbed it.
(However, I didn't expect to pay sales tax, because aren't these in the same product category as shoes or boots, which are untaxed?)
They sold out to a liquidator
They sold out to a liquidator. They usually come in and jack up all the prices and slowly discount over time. The first round is often more than the usual selling price. It's usually not a great deal.
I'd be surprised
if they haven't brought in a liquidation company to run the sale, like they did with Linens 'n Things and Filene's. There was some absolute JUNK in those stores during their liquidation sales, stuff that looked like leftovers from the Bradlee's going out of business sale. "Oh, look, 30 percent off these red Thom McAn Jox!"
Liquidation
They have - Hilco and Gordon Brothers
Filene's liquidation
I remember when Filene's (or maybe Filene's Basement) liquidated. They had in the strangest collection of junk, all on the ground floor level, and more kept coming in as time went on instead of less. Where does this stuff come from if it is not the merchandise of the store being liquidated? On the upside, I did get one great jacket for next to nothing, but I randomly lucked into it rather than it being any kind of organized thing.
Filene's
Perhaps the 'junk' came from Filene's other, suburban stores that were also being liquidated, and were closing earlier than the Downtown one?
Nope, stuff they don't sell
I remember that too and it definitely included stuff that was never sold at Filene's. Very similar merchandise was also part of the Borders sales.
"liquidation pros sometimes
"liquidation pros sometimes mark stuff up first so they don't lose out that much when they mark it down."
Isn't that illegal under consumer protection laws?