I just wrote about how Bulldog Liquidators in Chatsworth has closed its doors for good. You can read the report here and see the TV videos about Bulldog from the last several years: http://www.alanbestbuys.com/id225.html
Bulldog used to be a great outlet and liquidation store and it had a great business in the San Fernando Valley.
But business changed. The electronics business became cutthroat and even major retailers were forced to sell big screen TVs at just above cost. Main stream stores opened their own outlet divisions. And the slow economy meant that manufacturers were not likely to over-produce and so there was less excess merchandise for liquidation.
Bulldog faced those problems plus more competition from mainstream discounters such as WalMart. And at the same time it was locked into high rent and for almost a year the handwriting was on the wall that the store could no longer get revenue out of all of its retail space. Owners knew that it would have to close this month when the lease ran out.
It's final liquidation auction was today, and Bulldog will not reopen, though the owners told me they might reopen at another location with a more favorable rent.
This is just another example about how outlet stores and liquidation stores do badly when the economy is bad. When the economy is bad there is less excess production, and mainstream retailers have bigger sales and discounts. Those two conditions put a squeeze on outlets who depend on excess merchandise and prices that can be much lower than regular retail. But today, even the regular retailers are cutting prices to the bone.
Many retailers are selling new TVs just above cost. And consumer electronics are also subject to cutthroat pricing. Those were the big sellers for Bulldog in the gold old days.
So what about other outlets and liquidators? How are they doing? Do you know of any outlets that are expanding? Or others that are closing? Is outlet shopping as good as it used to be? Are you still finding deals in outlets or are prices at retail just as good because of the tough retailing environment?
Is outlet shopping still worthwhile in this environment?
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