This new Massachusetts store only sells returned products
With prices for seemingly everything through the roof, who doesn't love a good bargain? Everything sold at bargain basement prices is the promise of a new Massachusetts chain store, but there's a catch: everything they sell has already been bought and returned by someone else.
On a recent Monday morning, the flow of customers at Binstar in Avon was steady. After all, the promise at Binstar is any day of the week brings a chance for a dazzling deal. The store is new, but the merchandise is not. It's all been returned to some other company, and instead of trying to resell it, they've sold it to Binstar by the pallet load.
"It's like a treasure chest or a treasure hunt," said Binstar shopper Lorraine. She was on her way somewhere else but couldn't resist stopping in. "I come every week and a couple of times twice a week because the prices change daily."
Binstar CEO Jack Laughlin was inspired to launch this concept while working at a giant e-commerce company when he found out how much returned product ends up in the trash because it's too expensive or too difficult to repurpose and resell.
"We were doing, I want to say $400-500 million in revenue and sending close to eight percent of that to the landfill as a cost of doing business," Laughlin said about his prior company. "It did start driving me crazy because it makes no sense. You look at all of this stuff, why should this get thrown away."
Laughlin says a lot of Binstar's inventory comes from Amazon or third party sellers on Amazon. Some of the company's clothing comes from Costco.
For now, Binstar employees sort through the pallets that arrive by hand. The most valuable merchandise is rolled out on Saturdays, when everything in one of the bins is a flat $19. Prices drop each day of the week before bottoming out Fridays after 4:00 p.m. at one dollar. Binstar releases new merchandise each day based on its approximate value. The company says they sell through 90-95 percent of their inventory.
Laughlin says some items found and sold by Binstar have been worth hundreds of dollars, including AMD video cards, gaming consoles, computers, AirPods and Dyson Air Wraps.
To gauge the value of the bargains, NewsCenter 5 asked Edgar Dworsky - who publishes ConsumerWorld.org - to shop through the company's Brighton location.
Everything in one of the bins at the store on a Monday is $10, yet we found a breadbox worth $42, a baby food maker for $67, and an Xbox controller that retails for $48. While all of those are good deals individually, Dworsky says the stars have to align to really find a deal at Binstar because you must have a need for something they're selling.
"You have to have such patience to shop here. All these boxes are not particularly well-labeled," Dworsky said. "If you like poking around, this is great. I'm getting too old for this."
Shoes and clothes don't follow Binstar's daily price changes. They are a flat rate every day. Binstar does have a seven day return policy for store credit.
Right now, they have two locations - Avon and Cleveland Circle - but their Saugus store opens Saturday, May 11.