2013 Summer Clearances

[akohns]

Local Walmart has like 12 Vampyre Castles for 69. It seems they came from another location since they got rid of their stock weeks ago. I hope they last a while and they clearance them for $35!

For sure. I've still got a few in my area in a store that marked their's down late (for some reason). Finally hit $69 and no one seems interested. I've got one a picked up for $69 the first week they were on clearance and another last weekend in West Virginia for $35.

[SirSydney]

Was in my local Wal-Mart this afternoon. They had one Hero Factory on clearance. Regular price $37.97. Clearance price was $37.00. Ol' Sam really gives you a deal.

[chinothegeeko]

I'd flip them if they were a lower in price. 

[Guest eightbrick]

Wow, I feel a bit better about Canada's lacklustre clearance selection with all the talk damaged boxes. I rarely see "broken into" boxes at Walmart (and newly opened targets). Then again, I rarely see good deals... I hope anyone waiting for the Quinjets to come down to 25 can get a successful big score. Good luck!

[peculiar23]

I have been stopping at my local Walmarts every few days lately and haven't seen any significant deals, a few friends polybags for $1.00 each have been my most exciting score. Then two days ago I found 1 solitary series 10 minifig in the clearance isle for $1.00. I haven't seen any collectible minifigs in these stores for awhile so I scoured around to try and find more, No luck. So yesterday I stopped in the morning no deals and then last night for some reason I decided to stop again. And I had to do a double take in the clearance isle; a full display 120 series 10 minifigs for a $1 each. I haven't had time to search through for a Mr. Gold.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Was in my local Wal-Mart this afternoon. They had one Hero Factory on clearance. Regular price $37.97. Clearance price was $37.00. Ol' Sam really gives you a deal.

 

I don't understand how you call something clearance and then take a dollar off. It just completely baffles me.

[emes]

I don't understand how you call something clearance and then take a dollar off. It just completely baffles me.

 

Big retailers like WalMart and Target work with huge portfolios of items. What they generally care about is 1) having things on the shelf for people to buy and 2) receiving a consistent return across their entire portfolio of products. Most likely, department managers receive some kind of generated report that gives them suggestions for products to discount/clear along with potential amounts, and they have local decision making authority about whether or not to offer a clearance/discount based on local conditions.

 

Additionally, large retailers like this automate clearance in some cases, and the amount of discount is largely computer generated based on conditions and parameters set by the retailer.

 

It's more appropriate to say that goals of large retailers and our goals are sometimes misaligned. They want a consistent return across all products, we want to buy things at a steep discount so that we can resell for a profit.

[Msudawgs56]

DoNotInsertIntoMouth

I drove to another Walmart 60 miles from home while dropping my son off at church camp and saw another stupid walmart pricing trick. They had a general clearance isle and at first I got really excited to see two Superman Lego sets on the shelf. But, then I saw the price tag. They were regular MSRP and Walmart went to the trouble of marking each box with a red clearance sticker and put the MSRP on each box. 

 

Trying to trick folks that these sets are on clearance. 

[pickleboy]

DoNotInsertIntoMouth

I drove to another Walmart 60 miles from home while dropping my son off at church camp and saw another stupid walmart pricing trick. They had a general clearance isle and at first I got really excited to see two Superman Lego sets on the shelf. But, then I saw the price tag. They were regular MSRP and Walmart went to the trouble of marking each box with a red clearance sticker and put the MSRP on each box. 

 

Trying to trick folks that these sets are on clearance. 

 

I think when they do that...it just means they will no longer be carrying the product.

[Msudawgs56]

I think when they do that...it just means they will no longer be carrying the product.

Probably. Now, just to clarify, they had two different sets, but total there were about 8 of each set on the shelf. They marked 16 boxes with the exact same MSRP.

[matt1147]

Found 4 MF's in clearance isles at walmart but still marked and scanned at full price. Asked clerks and they said those sets are moved out of their normal inventory (won't get any more) but its up to manager to determine if and when price gets discounted. So frustrating!

[Guest eightbrick]

Found 4 MF's in clearance isles at walmart but still marked and scanned at full price. Asked clerks and they said those sets are moved out of their normal inventory (won't get any more) but its up to manager to determine if and when price gets discounted. So frustrating!

You could try bargaining with a manager, some people have got ample success with that if they clear our all of one product.

[choppers605]

Today my closest walmart had all hobbit & lord of the rings set at 50% off.

[Guest eightbrick]

Today my closest walmart had all hobbit & lord of the rings set at 50% off.

Whoa! Nice find! I trust you capitalized on the sale? I find it surprising that the Hobbit sets would also be half off. If I found a sale like that I would smash my piggy bank to pieces and clean them out. Happy hunting!

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Went to another target today - just MoM for $67. Do have some HDs though so I will be back.

[TheOrcKing]

They were regular MSRP and Walmart went to the trouble of marking each box with a red clearance sticker and put the MSRP on each box.

Anytime Walmart and Target has the 'red tag' slapped across an item means they will not be receiving or selling any more stock of said item when it sells out. I believe it was RichB that brought this information up in the beginning.

I don't understand how you call something clearance and then take a dollar off. It just completely baffles me.

My favorites are the ones that have a whole whopping two cents off.

[willy431]

Went to 3 walmarts today. The ONlY lego clearance we found were these 2.

Checking our 3 targets tomorrow...not expecting much. At all. My area sucks for lego clearance.

Attached is a picture for those who think finding clearance lego is easy. I don't know why I haven't given up yet...I never find anything. How about some inspiration! Post some pictures of a real lego clearance sale or receipt. I want to believe. The truth is out there.

Mark<-ready to cry about the hours and gas I waste unicorn hunting.

[seapotato]

I went stateside today and there was literally no Lego on clearance. Found a few Urak-hai army but regular price at $30.

 

I did find Anakin and Sebulba Podracer for $54 and Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship $22 lying around - looks like they were returned items as there were only 1 of each, and the podracer box might have been opened, and the gunship box was a bit banged up.

 

I asked if I could get a bit of a discount since the condition of the box was bad, and the lady gave me $2 off, so I picked it up for $20. Also grabbed Jabba's Palace for $96 - nothing amazing like the $78 everyone was getting today, but considering the set is $150 in Canada, I thought it was a pretty decent deal!

[Ronda]

I have 3 Walmarts within 15 min driving, one is a brand new store.  I normally shop there for other stuff 1-2 times a week, and check on Lego every time.  Been at one of them yesterday and at another one today.  NOTHING!  3-4 rollbacks (about $2 off), 1 or 2 "sales" wich would make about $5 off after tax - even online walmart prices are better.  Oh well.

[never2old4lego]

I went to 4 different Wal-Marts yesterday and didn't find one single Lego set on clearance.   Even the ones that were in the clearance section scanned at full price!  So frustrating!

[JoshTX]

We've discussed time and again on these forums how much of a crapshoot it is to find Lego clearanced in stores. It's usually that some people get stores that clearance constantly and at huge percentages off, while others can go a year without seeing a single item clearanced. There's really no pattern to it.

 

Wasting time and gas in the long run usually ends up costing more, not to mention dissapointment at arriving home empty handed after wasting half a tank of gas and 3 hours of your life trolling toy aisles. Clearance is almost non-existent in my area, so I stopped doing big runs.

 

Though there is no real set pattern as I stated before, my advice would be this:

 

-Pay attention to the demographics of your area. If you live in a middle class or more affluent area in which people have the cash to spend on Lego, they probably will. More Lego bought at MSRP means less Lego to clearance and more Lego sold also sends a message to retailers that there isn't any need to clearance it.

 

-Hit the stores on your way home from work. This way you aren't wasting fuel or much time. If you absolutely must check a Walmart, 3 times a week, check the ones that aren't out of your way. If a national clearance happens, like the MF one, you will know that you have the green light to hit the stores further away.

 

-Get to know the employees. Sometimes an employee can be clueless about inventory, but if they do know something and are willing to share, they can drop some serious gems on you. Some stores lay out clearance a certain day of the week, some employees will tell you if there's lego in the back room, some employees may tell you what is on the chopping block to be clearanced. Get on their good side.

 

Hell, I should write a BP article about this.

[Quacs]

We've discussed time and again on these forums how much of a crapshoot it is to find Lego clearanced in stores. It's usually that some people get stores that clearance constantly and at huge percentages off, while others can go a year without seeing a single item clearanced. There's really no pattern to it.

 

Wasting time and gas in the long run usually ends up costing more, not to mention dissapointment at arriving home empty handed after wasting half a tank of gas and 3 hours of your life trolling toy aisles. Clearance is almost non-existent in my area, so I stopped doing big runs.

 

Though there is no real set pattern as I stated before, my advice would be this:

 

-Pay attention to the demographics of your area. If you live in a middle class or more affluent area in which people have the cash to spend on Lego, they probably will. More Lego bought at MSRP means less Lego to clearance and more Lego sold also sends a message to retailers that there isn't any need to clearance it.

 

-Hit the stores on your way home from work. This way you aren't wasting fuel or much time. If you absolutely must check a Walmart, 3 times a week, check the ones that aren't out of your way. If a national clearance happens, like the MF one, you will know that you have the green light to hit the stores further away.

 

-Get to know the employees. Sometimes an employee can be clueless about inventory, but if they do know something and are willing to share, they can drop some serious gems on you. Some stores lay out clearance a certain day of the week, some employees will tell you if there's lego in the back room, some employees may tell you what is on the chopping block to be clearanced. Get on their good side.

 

Hell, I should write a BP article about this.

 

I think you just did!  Click the "Blog This" button and it should open up the blog editor with that post in it.

[TheOrcKing]

Hell, I should write a BP article about this.

Hell, you totally should, bro. B)

[JoshTX]

Hell, you totally should, bro.

 

It'll be like..a really cool story.

[Ronda]

Finally something like a sale at my "home" Walmart:

 

MOM $54

4203 Excav Transp $30

4204 Mine $69

 

Plus they moved some stuff around   Oh well.