As a certified (certifiable?) geek, I love tech toys. So it would stand to reason that when I heard on the radio of a liquidation sale to be held at the Pensacola Fair Grounds that would include closeouts on various technology goodies, I was ready to go. In my mind I was halfway there by the time the radio spot was finished. I knew of several items I had been interested in, and if the prices were good enough, I could do a lot of my Christmas shopping in one day.
I arose early Saturday morning and made my way to the Pensacola Fair Grounds.Breakfast at one of my favorite quick-service breakfast shops; then on to the venue. Looking into the windows of the exposition hall I discovered that I could indeed do a great deal of my shopping in one day. I saw many other items, purses, sunglasses, etc., and figured that the liquidators were not only unloading electronics from places like maybe Circuit City stores and distribution centers, but likely several other stores we’d heard had gone under over the past year. Clothing stores, household retailers, stuff like that.
Just a few minutes prior to opening, the signs reading “entrance” that were taped to the front doors were replaced with signs that read “admission $7.”
WHAT? Pass! I left.
Blue Star Productions, the organizer of the liquidation event, lost my business forever that day. Overhead is part of the cost of doing business and needs to be built into the prices of the goods. Retail stores do not charge you to examine their inventory. I have attended liquidation sales in the past and this was not common practice. I was prepared to spend a lot more than $7 dollars in that event. Over that $7 Blue Star lost a lot more.
Additionally, no admission fee was mentioned in the radio spots. It was sprung on us as we waited to enter. This is dishonest, I don’t care how you couch it. It wasn’t an outright lie, the radio ad did not specifically state that no admission fee would be charged. Consumers do not assume that they will have to pay to shop. They assume they must pay to BUY, but not to SHOP. I understand that if they had advised of admission to be charged in the radio ad, most of us in line (and at least all of us that left) would not have shown up. The advertiser counted on consumers having already put enough effort out to get there that it would be a waste to leave. In my case, that was true. I had driven an hour to get there. From my standpoint, feeding thieves is a bigger waste. My dollars need to be directed to honest businessmen.