A new Newport News store caters to bargain shoppers looking for deals and falling prices in the aftermath of inflation.
Falling Prices opened in the former Burlington Coat Factory space at 14346 Warwick Blvd. in September. It’s the seventh store for the family-owned business that started in Santa Rosa, California, and it’s the first one on the East Coast.
The store’s unique concept is that prices successively get lower every day of the week. Falling Prices opens on Tuesdays, with everything costing $6. Each day, the prices fall — to $4 on Wednesdays, $2 on Thursdays, $1 on Fridays and 25 cents for what’s left on Saturdays.
The store is then restocked for the next week. Customers can come at the end of the week and find jackets, toys, electronics, home goods or boxes of chips for only 25 cents.
“You’ll get amazing deals, but you’ll have to search for them,” owner Ben Cawood said. “It’s like a scavenger hunt for the customer.”
Items are stocked on shelves and in bins, and the categories and types of merchandise are mixed throughout the store. Larger and higher value items are placed on shelves, and the smaller ones are found in bins. The treasure-hunt like experience encourages customers to explore and find the best deals, Cawood said.
The inventory comes from an assortment of retailers such as Amazon, Target, Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe’s and other large retailers. The items are a mix of overstock, box damage or returns. Four to six truck trailers arrive weekly and contain 10,000-80,000 new items. Employees must triage the items as trash or treasures to be sold in the store.
Cawood said Dollar Tree has often had to agree to let Falling Prices come into the same shopping centers as the new concept brings in foot traffic, which can also boost the dollar retailer’s sales.
“While Dollar Tree offers great prices on items you can expect to find every time you visit, our store provides a completely different experience,” he said. “Customers never know what they’ll find, making it exciting.”
Falling Prices offers optional line passes to help manage the order of entry into the store. The line pass system is accessed through the Falling Prices app, which is only used at 10 a.m. when the store opens. Customers can reserve their spot in line ahead of time to avoid standing in long lines before the store opens.
“We’ve seen how this model thrives on the West Coast, and I’m eager to bring the same great value and excitement to new communities,” Cawood said. “With inflation affecting everyone, it’s a way for people to access quality items at a fraction of their retail cost. It’s like Black Friday every day.”
Lee Belote, jlbelote@verizon.net
