Canadian Quick Questions: What Is It About A Liquidation Sale That Makes Us Act Like This?


My local Zellers closes in just over a week, so we thought we would go by and see what deals they had left.

In the clothes section, people were arguing over a Jockey hoodie, one holding it by the hood, the other by an arm both saying they had seen it first – there were 6 more on the rack and it was not even the most amazing deal! In the electronics section, someone actually hit someone else with a Wii game.

But the mess amazed me, the picture above was taken beside a price checker, people were just looking at the price then throwing the item on the floor if too expensive.  None of the items we bought came up at the price it should have, one item that should have been $32.99 – 60% came up at $4.19 once the discount was taken and I price checked it at $32.99 so price checking was redundant anyway.  There were areas where everything had been knocked off the shelves and as quickly as staff were putting it back, people were throwing it back on the floor.

What is it about a liquidation sale that makes us lose all sense of how we should behave? 

There is no way we would go into a store on a regular day and just throw things we don’t want on the floor.  Return them to the wrong area maybe, but not just chuck it on the floor right in front of a staff member who has to clean it up.  I know it is partly that the staff don’t care as much with just a few days left and are likely not cleaning up as quickly but that alone cannot account for the disaster in these stores.


19 responses to “Canadian Quick Questions: What Is It About A Liquidation Sale That Makes Us Act Like This?”

  1. benji says:

    Why do people act like that you ask? Because they are bungholes, that’s why.

  2. C says:

    The last day at our Zellers was like the apocalypse was coming- every man for himself! I couldn’t believe it.

  3. Sarah says:

    Wow. you must live in Brampton. It amazes me how disrespectful people are here. imagine the poor sales staff:( and your right the deals aren’t even that great!!

    • FallenPixels says:

      Nope, not Brampton but I have heard many ppl say their Zellers looks like this right now
      Butterfly, I know, it is any sale – amazing how the thought of a deal makes people act like this

  4. Butterfly says:

    This happens in all popular retail stores not just in Zellers, I work in a clothing retail store and our store is TRASHED during sales, it is disgusting how people just drop clothing on the floor they don’t even bother putting it on the table its displayed on. I wonder if their homes look the same??? It is not about the sales associates not caring it because just as soon we fold something up back nicely some inconsiderate “thing” not human comes along and messes everything up and throws it all over so we clean AFTER HOURS. Clothing stores are not a flea market!!!!! Nor is any other store! HAVE RESPECT!!!!

  5. hijinx25 says:

    Butterfly is right – it’s about respecting what isn’t yours. If I cam to their house, inspected an item and dropped it right on the floor, I’m sure the owners would have none of that. But to do it in a store, where there’s no accountability, it seems to be a hayday!
    Just yesterday I was at RCSS and a teen girl – maybe 16/17 tossed a dairy item with the crackers, as I guess she changed her mind. I looked at her right in the eye – Seriously? I said to her. Why not give it to the cashier and tell her you changed your mind (I saw her coming from the line up, her mom sent her to take it back). She looked at me, didn’t say anything, picked up the aisle and headed towards the dairy case.

  6. Stephanie says:

    Hahaha! I thought “this must be in Brampton” too! Just shows how ghetto Brampton is!

  7. Peppermint Patty says:

    Just went to my Zellers this a.m. and it looked just like that. It is closing next week. It was all the employees could do to keep up with people rumaging through stuff then tossing it aside to let it land, where ever. 🙁

  8. Butterfly says:

    Peppermint Patty that is exactly what happens all we employees try to do is keep up with the mess people are leaving behind at the same time trying to give proper customer service and dealing with not having enough staff on the floor because headquarters does not give a rats behind to give stores more hours to get more employees to come in and help clean the store and then give us crap for it! Darn capitalism!

  9. adora says:

    I don’t think people act differently due to sale. Low prices attract different type of customers. Those poorly lit dollar stores always look like that any day of the year.

  10. Markham?? says:

    Is it Markham/Richmond Hill or Northern Scarborough?

    Those places are absolute pigsty’s!

    The answer is not only respect, but inevitably, it’s ENTITLEMENT. Society has drastically changed in urban settings and people BELIEVE that it’s all for themselves and damn anyone else.

    Folks, it’s going to get worse!

  11. jayne says:

    I have worked in big box retail for 12 years and we actually don’t bother to tidy up (unless its scary unsafe untidy) until 5pm on Saturdays and about 4pm on sundays as there really is no point. If we tidy an area it is ripped apart again in about 10 minutes. I understand that people have limited time and need to get in and get out of stores but what they don’t realise is that if they were tidier stores would need less staff and that would bring costs down for everyone. So think about that next time you decide to open something or leave something on the floor you have knocked over. You are hurting your pocket too.

    • FallenPixels says:

      The majority of stores around here are untidy but not messy on a Saurday. This however was crazy, as were the people fighting over a $30 sweater

  12. Candice Podvin says:

    It doesn’t matter where you live, this happens everywhere. It doesn’t matter what age you are, I’ve seen all ages do it. It doesn’t matter if the store is tidy or not, people are disrespectful no matter. Yes it has to do with RESPECT. If you don’t possess it, you don’t care about others. I am sure there are a lot of good, respectful people out there that wouldn’t think of doing this but it’s the disrespectful that get notice. Come on people, just one act of respect and thoughtfulness makes it easier to do again and again.

  13. Dee says:

    While I agree that it is a different crowd that comes in when a store closes, the staff are doing their jobs. There aren’t enough staff because the liquidating company comes in and takes over the last month or so of a store closing its doors. The staff are expected to work much much harder and not appreciated. I saw this when my Zellers closed last fall. When a store closes people expect products for next to nothing. The company still needs to make money so that the staff can get their severance for years of service or even their last pay cheque. People need to respect the staff in retail stores at all times as they work for minimum wage and stand and work very long hours.

  14. Serena says:

    If the price is not attractive and affordable doesn’t mean that we will throw the clothes here and there. This is not a right conduct.

  15. Robin says:

    I worked at Linens n Things when they went under…we called the people that were in for the liquidation “troll” cause they run in cause havoc and then complain that something isnt cheap enough…90% off not good enough? and also complain that we have nothing left. The liquadation company was just as bad in regards to how we were treated. It is sad how people act in public.

  16. cathy says:

    I work in a bookstore and although people generally don’t chuck books on the floor, they don’t have a problem sitting and reading the whole thing and bending covers. But when someone comes in for a single copy of a book and we can’t find it I do make a point of saying that it’s probably because another customer picked it up and put it on a different shelf which means the book is now effectively lost. The hope is that when *that* customer is out shopping they keep in mind that they should stop dropping things off where they don’t belong.

    It’s probably a futile hope, though. 🙂

  17. Markham?? says:

    Those people are filthy!

    They shouldn’t be allowed to go to an IKEA store with a monkey!


















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