ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — We first told you about Hot Deals St. Pete before Black Friday last year.
Owner Keith Muchlar explained how he buys pallets of discontinued or returned items from Amazon and sells them at deep discounts at his store.
“Everybody came in and said the excitement of the broadcast, it excited them. They couldn’t believe they could get deals like this, and with the economy people are looking for a good deal. And they can find it here,” said Muchlar.
Hot Deals is a bin store, which means items are put into bins. And depending on the day the items vary in price.
For instance, one-day bins can be $10 or as little as $4.
But as ABC Action News recently found out, it’s the extra step employees take behind the scenes that are making a big difference at the front of the shop for customers.
Workers here remove tracking labels to reveal the manufacturer's UPC code. Customers can then use the Amazon app to scan the item and reveal its current selling price online.
“There they are, $109,” explained Sydney Fernandez, Hot Deals employee.
Fernandez also told ABC Action News that if for some reason you can’t find the bar code but the box has a picture, you can just scan that.
Higher-priced items are first placed in a different section and discounted at least 50%. If they don’t sell, they are thrown into a bin for an even cheaper price.
The store is restocked midweek with new items in $10 bins starting on Thursdays.
