So, I've been looking for the "right" sofa for 2 years or so. I see The Room Store in Waldorf is having a bankruptcy/going-out-of-business sale...prices can't be beat...yay! I've been there before. They have some OK stuff that would be "right" for the right price.
So I call and ask if they're really going out of business, or if they're just going out of business like Thompson's Furniture in Hollywood has been for the past 10 years. They say this is a real bankruptcy, closing forever.
I walk in and the leather sofas are sitting right in the front. Gentleman greets me. He works for the liquidation company. Today, it works like this: make us an offer on anything and everything--no set prices.
First thing I notice is that they have some kind of reference price on the items. $5,000 for this sofa, $6,000 for that one. I laugh. This isn't Ethan Allen, and even their prices aren't that high.
I find one I like, and since they named the game, I asked if he would accept $500. Oh no no no. That sofa sold in here for $2600. I could take an offer back to "them" of $1260. I think they would accept that."
So, the game is this. They already have a price in mind they want. They put some absurd list price sticker on the item just in case someone who just fell off the turnip truck walks in. "Oh $5,000 list, I'll bet I can get it for $2,000. yuk yuk yuk." If you offer less than what the store normally sold it for anyway, you're told that wasn't a "reasonable" offer.
I told the guy I had been in here before and never saw a sofa selling for more than $1400-$1500. I also mentioned his inflated sticker prices. He shrugs his shoulders, give me the tough #### look and I leave.
I stopped in a Jennifers nearby and related the partial story to the clerk. He said he has heard it a few times before.
Bottom line, don't waste your time. Maybe stop in on the last day and see if they're willing to sell at a reasonable price. No doubt the remainders will be going to a liquidation wholesaler.
So I call and ask if they're really going out of business, or if they're just going out of business like Thompson's Furniture in Hollywood has been for the past 10 years. They say this is a real bankruptcy, closing forever.
I walk in and the leather sofas are sitting right in the front. Gentleman greets me. He works for the liquidation company. Today, it works like this: make us an offer on anything and everything--no set prices.
First thing I notice is that they have some kind of reference price on the items. $5,000 for this sofa, $6,000 for that one. I laugh. This isn't Ethan Allen, and even their prices aren't that high.
I find one I like, and since they named the game, I asked if he would accept $500. Oh no no no. That sofa sold in here for $2600. I could take an offer back to "them" of $1260. I think they would accept that."
So, the game is this. They already have a price in mind they want. They put some absurd list price sticker on the item just in case someone who just fell off the turnip truck walks in. "Oh $5,000 list, I'll bet I can get it for $2,000. yuk yuk yuk." If you offer less than what the store normally sold it for anyway, you're told that wasn't a "reasonable" offer.
I told the guy I had been in here before and never saw a sofa selling for more than $1400-$1500. I also mentioned his inflated sticker prices. He shrugs his shoulders, give me the tough #### look and I leave.
I stopped in a Jennifers nearby and related the partial story to the clerk. He said he has heard it a few times before.
Bottom line, don't waste your time. Maybe stop in on the last day and see if they're willing to sell at a reasonable price. No doubt the remainders will be going to a liquidation wholesaler.
