Adventures in store closing

I never want to be a part of another store closing. We’re still in the middle of the closing the store, but it has been a headache so far. Here are some of the questions and other things we hear on a daily basis.

1) “When is your last day?”

2) “Can you go lower than this?”

3) “Is the %off this price?”

4) “When is your next price change?”

5) “I’m sad to see this store go”

6) “THIS AIN’T NO DEAL!!”

7) “Why are you closing?”

8) “Has the price gone down any?”

9) “I’ll make you a deal.”

10) This is after the customer walks in and we say hello, “I’m just looking at prices.”

11) And my personal favorite, “I can find this cheaper at [insert store here]”

What people don’t understand is we have no say on pricing. Corporate Sears handle pricing, and only they know when our next markdown will be. We have been given a date where the store will close–March 31st–but that is sensitive information. We just tell the customers that we don’t know, and they usually won’t get an attitude. The problem is dealing with customers who demand we go down on prices or ask if we can make deals. We’ve had several customers who flat offered us cash if we dropped the price by at least $100.

We cannot do returns, new orders or deliveries. It doesn’t matter if the item has scratches, is brand new, or missing parts, the price is non-negotiable.

The other head scratcher is when people claim they can find it cheaper at another store. We actually don’t mind if they can find it cheaper. You’re not obligated, or required by law, to buy from us. They act like someone has a gun pointed to their head demanding they buy now. And I get it. It’s natural to assume that, once a store is closing, there should be rock bottom pricing. Sears doesn’t think that way.

They are not going to sell an appliance at rock bottom pricing without first going through several markdowns. They went from 20% on the first of the month, and they are now at 40%. What they want, is to sell as many appliances now before ultimately marking them down to rock bottom pricing. We still have a month left before the doors will be locked. Markdowns do occur weekly, so it won’t be long before the pricing will drop to 50% onward.

Moving on.

About a week ago, I went ahead and rescheduled my flight to Chicago. Instead of leaving Atlanta in the evening, my flight will leave around 9 a.m., and I’ll be in Chicago around 10 central. I still haven’t booked a hotel yet, but I went ahead and purchased a ticket to see the Cubs vs Braves on May 7th :-). I’m debating on what I will do Tuesday. I’m already planning on going to the Braves vs. Cubs on Wednesday. I might rent a vehicle and drive up to Milwaukee and spend the day up there. It’s only 2 hours north of Chicago, so we’ll see.

Now I’m going to get off of here and catch up with you guys.