If you’re hankering for a good treasure hunt, you don’t need to look any further than 1203 East Scenic Rivers Boulevard, home to Salem’s new Discount Bins. The retail store opened its doors on Friday, April 26, boasting hidden gems within thirty bins of discounted merchandise—all priced at the same dollar amount.
Everything might cost the same, but that price decreases as the week goes on and stock is thinned out by shoppers scooping up the best savings. Friday is the most expensive, capping out at $15; however, this cost goes for everything in the store—including items that would cost ten times that anywhere else, providing shoppers the chance to nab some great deals, if they can find them before anyone else.
Shoppers can expect those deals to continue throughout the week, with products priced at $10 on Saturdays, $5 on Sundays, $3 on Mondays, $2 on Tuesdays, and $1 on Wednesdays—a descending pricing structure. The only exception to this rule is clothing, where everything from small to triple XL, men’s, women’s, and children’s are priced at $6 on Fridays, $5 on Saturdays, $4 on Sundays, $3 on Mondays, $2 on Tuesdays, and $1 on Wednesdays.
The hours of the store are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, when the store is freshly restocked with new merchandise. Shoppers can expect this day to be the busiest and the greatest time to come for hidden gems. From Saturday to Wednesday, the hours are also10 a.m. to 6 p.m. On Thursday, the store is closed for restocking so the cycle of exciting deals can begin anew on Friday.
Discount Bins is owned by the parent company RDW Liquidations, which does everything from a chain of discount bin stores in Arkansas, Kansas, and now Missouri to being a liquidation company where it wholesales product to other bin stores, or other interested parties. The company was started by Michael and Paige Cluer in Harrison, Arkansas when the two opened a flea market which then grew into a bargain quarter, a discount store. Micheal Cluer was adept at finding good deals on merchandise—until, suddenly, they had a lot of good deals on merchandise, enough to open a discount bin store.
Beau Rosner, district manager of RDW Liquidations’ seven discount bin stores, provided The Salem News with insight into what shoppers can expect from their experience at the store. The Salem location is the first one the chain has opened in Missouri, and Rosner stated the company is looking into possibly opening one in Rolla in the near future.
“It went fantastic. Really fantastic. The community seems to really respond to what we're offering,” stated Rosner on how opening day went for Discount Bins. “The last time I checked the Facebook account, we were at 1,300 followers in a town of 4,800 people. That should tell you that people are interested in what we have to offer.”
On opening day April 26, Rosner shared shoppers found iPhones, chicken egg warmers, and prom dresses—it’s apparent that people are enjoying not only the deals they might find, but they’re also enjoying the randomness of the hunt. Rosner shared that the shopping experience at a bin store is different than normal shopping experiences: you are definitely going to find a lot of things that you don’t know you need until you see it. Most importantly, you’re going to get them at a fraction of the cost.
Fridays are the craziest—for good reason. Once those doors open, shoppers will run inside and start tearing through the bins because the early bird gets the worm, and there’s no rhyme or reason to how staff places product received. Staff throws all the product willy nilly into the thirty bins, and the first one to grab it gets to buy it. You can expect to see people grabbing carts, running through the store, and throwing as much as they can into their cart.
Rosner likens the craziness to watching an old game show called Supermarket Sweep where contestants would race against the clock, and each other, to get a list of items in their cart before their opponents.
There are no returns for what people buy at the bin stores – however, to give people a little more reassurance about their purchases, they are welcome to open sealed boxes at the register before they check out. For example, if someone is going to buy a sealed box of wine glasses, they’re welcome to open the box prior to purchase to make sure that none of them shattered in transit. Other options include testing stations where shoppers may bring electronics they find to ensure that when they’re plugged in, they work properly.
Rosner shares that the products are a little different than what most bin stores offer—it carries a mix of Amazon, Target, and sometimes Walmart merchandise. Shoppers can expect name brand merchandise to appear in the bins, everything from DeWalt, Hoka, Sony, to Apple, and more.
“This last Friday, someone got a new iPhone for $15 dollars,” said Rosner on the opening day of April 26. “I think it was an iPhone 12. Brand new, for 15 bucks. Most stores take that stuff out—but we don’t.”
Anything that doesn’t sell throughout the week of the descending prices will be boxed up into individual $10 boxes, completely full. Those boxes are sold on Friday mornings. You don’t know what you’ll get—but you’ll definitely get something.
Once all thirty bins are empty, the store brings out pallets of merchandise and dumps them into bins. Once all the product is out in the bins, the manager will go through and pick out big-ticket items and post photos on the Facebook page to give folks an idea of what they can expect.
Discount Bins also offers Mystery Boxes, which are sealed from a distributer, and even the store itself has no idea what’s inside them. Rosner says he’s seen people pull out high-end electronics like computer monitors to 50 cans of potted beef. Rosner likens mystery boxes to scratching off lottery tickets where sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t.
Tips for shoppers seeking to get the most out of discount bin stores include coming to the store a few times a week to see if something you wanted Friday is still there at a lower cost on other days. Another tip from Rosner – don’t dawdle. Be quick, grab a cart, and go. The first one to put their hands on merchandise is the one that gets it. Don’t be afraid to be quick. Last tip – Fridays and Saturdays are the best days to go. Although shoppers can expect to find something they like every day, Fridays and Saturdays have the deals that everyone will be quick to snatch up before Sunday rolls around.
Rosner recommends that interested parties go to the Discount Bins - Salem Facebook page as every Thursday the store will post pictures of items shoppers can expect to find when the store reopens on Friday.
Followers on Facebook are also able to enter a drawing by liking the post, sharing the post, and tagging two people—at 8 p.m., the manager draws three random names from those Facebook posts and three people get a three minute head start at the front of the line on Friday morning.
