Other National Chain Store ~ Vent: BRUTAL! Price hikes at Big Lots too...

[ripit]

Its not the economy. They have been drastically raising prices for a few years since Steve Fishman became ceo. I work there and while customer count and items sold count has gone down, were making record profits because the price has gone up so much. Most of the stuff is not clearance anymore. We keep seeing the same merchandise over and over again. They often slowly raise the price on an item again and again till it stops selling, then back the price off a little (to determine the most customers will pay for it). What little clearance we do get often has issues. Most of the 5$ watches we get are 10$ walmart watches, but they have been sitting on the shelf at walmart so long, the batterys are nearly dead (a lot die before they are sold). Its also common for us to remove prices from the store that we got it from, because we are charging as much or more than they were, even at expensive stores like linens and things and kohls.
There are some very good deals but I would say that the hot deals account for less that 5% or our merchandise, and always check reviews online. We have been getting quite a few things over the last year that have teribble reviews (probably why the store we got the items from wanted to dump them). Its a far jump from the way it was 3-4 years ago when a lot of our merchandise was still clearance and there were always hot deals. I can often find stuff cheaper elsewhere, even after taking my 20% employee discount into acount.

Fyi, I got that same Mr. potato head on amazon for 10$ shipped. The 25$ price is bogus. They ship stuff marker higher prices and advertise it at a lower price to make you think they are a deal. The Mr. potato head sold for 20$ the day we recieved it and the 25$ tag was to make you think it was on sale.

[drmy91]

I go to Dollar Tree for bread, rolls, bagels and english muffins. I buy 10 at a time and freeze them.

[abbala]

Originally Posted by ripit Its not the economy. They have been drastically raising prices for a few years since Steve Fishman became ceo. I work there and while customer count and items sold count has gone down, were making record profits because the price has gone up so much. Most of the stuff is not clearance anymore. We keep seeing the same merchandise over and over again. They often slowly raise the price on an item again and again till it stops selling, then back the price off a little (to determine the most customers will pay for it). What little clearance we do get often has issues. Most of the 5$ watches we get are 10$ walmart watches, but they have been sitting on the shelf at walmart so long, the batterys are nearly dead (a lot die before they are sold). Its also common for us to remove prices from the store that we got it from, because we are charging as much or more than they were, even at expensive stores like linens and things and kohls. There are some very good deals but I would say that the hot deals account for less that 5% or our merchandise, and always check reviews online. We have been getting quite a few things over the last year that have teribble reviews (probably why the store we got the items from wanted to dump them). Its a far jump from the way it was 3-4 years ago when a lot of our merchandise was still clearance and there were always hot deals. I can often find stuff cheaper elsewhere, even after taking my 20% employee discount into acount. Fyi, I got that same Mr. potato head on amazon for 10$ shipped. The 25$ price is bogus. They ship stuff marker higher prices and advertise it at a lower price to make you think they are a deal. The Mr. potato head sold for 20$ the day we recieved it and the 25$ tag was to make you think it was on sale.

Ripit... thank you so much for the inside scoop. Repped ya!:THANKS4:

[mscreneet]

Same here! I always purchase my bread from Kroger now.
Big lots is slowing increasing in each and every department
I still find myself going over to the store once a week just to check and see whats new and if there are any deals I just cant give up

Originally Posted by southern mommy I think bread is just over $1 at my Big Lots but I'm not certain. I have never bought bread there since I can get it for $0.88 for the nonfancy type at Kroger everyday.

[kval07]

Originally Posted by abbala Ugh... I guess I knew it would happen sometime. The bread rack jumped from $1.79 to $2 even. Judging from some other anecdotal comparisons, it seems like most everything has jumped about 10%. Combine that with the fact they can't take coupons, it really makes more sense to hunt the deals at the "coupon accepting" retailers. Guess I'll just have to wait for the 20% off buzz club coupons to make it worth stopping in again. *sigh*

$1.79 a loaf!!!! I won't but bread unless I can get it for $1! lol. I always wait until it goes on sale for $1 at Meijer and buy 2-3 loaves. Extras go in the fridge. I hate how bread gets after its been in the freezer.

Originally Posted by ripit Its not the economy. They have been drastically raising prices for a few years since Steve Fishman became ceo. I work there and while customer count and items sold count has gone down, were making record profits because the price has gone up so much. Most of the stuff is not clearance anymore. We keep seeing the same merchandise over and over again. They often slowly raise the price on an item again and again till it stops selling, then back the price off a little (to determine the most customers will pay for it). What little clearance we do get often has issues. Most of the 5$ watches we get are 10$ walmart watches, but they have been sitting on the shelf at walmart so long, the batterys are nearly dead (a lot die before they are sold). Its also common for us to remove prices from the store that we got it from, because we are charging as much or more than they were, even at expensive stores like linens and things and kohls. There are some very good deals but I would say that the hot deals account for less that 5% or our merchandise, and always check reviews online. We have been getting quite a few things over the last year that have teribble reviews (probably why the store we got the items from wanted to dump them). Its a far jump from the way it was 3-4 years ago when a lot of our merchandise was still clearance and there were always hot deals. I can often find stuff cheaper elsewhere, even after taking my 20% employee discount into acount. Fyi, I got that same Mr. potato head on amazon for 10$ shipped. The 25$ price is bogus. They ship stuff marker higher prices and advertise it at a lower price to make you think they are a deal. The Mr. potato head sold for 20$ the day we recieved it and the 25$ tag was to make you think it was on sale.

Thank you for convincing me to not even waste my time at Big Lots, lol. I won't tell your boss though.

[shelleyf]

I HATE Big Lots. I always thought it was junk. I buy my bread at UGO (United Grocery Outlet) for 1.00 for Nature's Own Whitewheat or 1.19 for Sara Lee. It is not out of date and that is the regular prices. I hate off-brand bread and with these prices I can afford not to buy it.

[FreckleTown]

I haven't been to Big Lots in years. Mainly because the store by me seemed to get more and more junky. I couldn't find anything and when I went it felt like I was at a garage sale buying stuff that someone else already had.

I know there are other stores that are nice and kept up but apparently the manager at the store near me does not care about the appearance. I'm all about saving money but I also like to feel "nice" when I shop.

[ripit]

There are still a few good deals if you are a very smart shopper when it comes to knowing the value of things. Personally, I research anything thats more than a few dollars online first as I have gotten tired of getting burned by bad deals at big lots.

A couple of warnings though. They recently decided that they could further improve profits by reducing markdowns (anything reduced in price or thrown away). Things that are returned as defective, are poorly tested, and resold at full price. If there is something obviously wrong with it, the price may get reduced and it is still sold, but it may not be marked that there is something wrong with it.

With furniture and home furnishings, we have sold pier 1 and broyhill in the past. I guess they decided that designer furniture was a good venture. They next sold jennifer ferrell which was a bogus designer line. They paid someone with a tv show (who so far as I know, has never had a furniture line or any product line for that matter). They used her name and slapped it on fancy looking but very poor quality furnature that biglots had special made in china. Thats why you will never see jennifer ferrell anywhere else. We had to sell it at full price for a month before we started the bogus percentage off markdowns. There were some wood chairs that were 500$ each, that were returned broken. It looked like cheap pine assembled by children with no arms (nails hammered part way in, then bent over and nailed down flat, screws going all diffrent cockeyed directions, and then painted over). The wood was baddly pitted on many items (under the finish so it wasn't shipping damage, it was made that way). They looked like they were sanded very crudly with a power sander, randomly and unevenly rounding off edegen and corners in spots (should have been hand finished on a small 1500$ dining room table or at least power sanded with a bit of care I would think). They are about to get more broyhill, and are going to mix in some more bogus desiner stuff (a new line) if I have been informed right. Just look at the lable or back of the box. If it says midwestern home products or distributed by big lots, its biglots brand, not real designer furniture.

[Tiffany]

Originally Posted by ripit A couple of warnings though. They recently decided that they could further improve profits by reducing markdowns (anything reduced in price or thrown away). Things that are returned as defective, are poorly tested, and resold at full price. If there is something obviously wrong with it, the price may get reduced and it is still sold, but it may not be marked that there is something wrong with it.

That would be the stores fault as there are special stickers to be used for that.

[ripit]

Originally Posted by Tiffany That would be the stores fault as there are special stickers to be used for that.

Yes and no. The only stickers we have available are final sale, no return stickers. We used them anytime something needed special notes like damage but after numerous complaints surrounding returns, our DM told us to use them very sparingly and not on electronic or appliance type items that might be defective. We used to just write on the package in marker but the store manager yells at us for that now (and that is the stores fault). The point is, there is no solid plan or course of action in place, and like most policys/guidelines, they are pretty much made up as they go (mostly by DM's but also by store managers). We have written policys but they are changed so often that the managers really don't know what policy is. Its usally the DM that tells us what he wants done (in many respects, not just returns). The one think that did come down from coorperate is that we are to try to get some money from anything and everything. How that is interperted seems to be left to the DM and store manager (at least so far as we have been told). Even if it comes from coorperate, we never get written policys, just emails from the DM or RM that a particular policy has changed.