The Business of Going Out of Business

I did a bit of shopping at Linens N Things today - only a bit, as the "Going Out of Business" sale is still in the 10-30% off phase.

While there, I realized that the current recession notwithstanding, there is an entire business around GOOB - and possibly the same company involved in every major liquidation in the last 20 years, including CompUSA, various furniture stores, Computer City, Mervyns, Montgomery Ward, and on and on.

There seems to be a well defined pattern to these GOOB sales. Here's my rule of thumb:

Week One: 10-30% off; store looks normal; few bargains, but lots of loud signs and human "signs" at every major intersection.

Week Two: 20-30% off; store still looks normal; you might find something interesting.

Somewhere Around Weeks Three-Five: The Golden Week. 30-50% off. Every item worth purchasing is gone in the first thirty minutes on Monday. I believe it's flea market and Ebay resellers. By Tuesday the store looks like a Russian supermarket with vast swaths of empty shelves.

Week Six: 70-90% off the four remaining items in the store, which literally looks like a carcass inside.

Given all of this, there really is only one hour within a GOOB sale when you might find bargains, and you're a lucky shopper indeed if you happen to hit it exactly right.

For now, I passed on anything from LNT and added my weekly 20% off any single item coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond to the growing stack from that store.