Staples runs occasional sales where everything that you can cram in a paper bag gets discounted. “Hmmm,” writes reader Jack, “how many chairs or other furniture items do you think will fit in this Staples bag?” That depends on whether Staples has begun to outfit dollhouses and architectural models with office furniture. [More]
Staples Now Selling Dollhouse-Sized Office Furniture
By June 17, 2013
Why Does Target Need To Scan My Driver’s License To Sell Me Nicotine Patches?
By March 18, 2013
Rodney’s son asked him to pick up some nicotine patches, so he did. Rodney, an ex-smoker himself, knows the agony of nicotine withdrawal, and was happy to help him out. Up to a point. He wasn’t happy enough to let Target scan his driver’s license and hold on to the information that he had bought nicotine patches when he hasn’t smoked in years. The thing is, his caution is entirely justified. He could very well land on a data broker’s list of recent smokers. [More]
Bed Bath And Beyond’s Towers Of Towels Are A Beautifully Folded Lie
By February 27, 2013
If you’ve been to a Bed, Bath and Beyond store, you’ve seen them: the shelves and shelves of perfectly folded towels, stacked up to the ceiling. They look nice, and that’s an awful lot of towels, isn’t it? No. It isn’t. Photos exposing the towel towers as the shams they are frequently make the rounds on social media sites, blowing everyone’s minds. [More]
Staples Offers 99 Cent Stamp With Free Shipping, Wants $10 Shipping After Orders Go Through
By January 30, 2013
Oops. Staples offered a great deal on self-inking address stamps that seemed too good to be true: 99 cents for a stamp, with free shipping. By the time the transactions went through, the deal actually was too good to be true, making deal-hunters sad and upset with Staples. [More]
BJ’s Apologizes For Crappy Pecan Pie That We Never Complained About
By January 15, 2013
Jonathan’s family bought a pre-made pecan pie for one of the winter holidays…Christmas, Thanksgiving, something like that. He doesn’t even remember. The pie wasn’t all that great, but the family didn’t think to complain to BJ’s about it. They had other things to do during the holidays. So they were surprised when they received a coupon in the mail for a free replacement pie, along with a letter apologizing for the poor quality of the pecan pie. [More]
Meijer Customer Service Saves The Day After Surgery
By January 14, 2013
Amanda was exhausted, after dealing with her mother’s post-surgery care and bringing her home from the hospital. Neither of them anticipated that the biggest problem would that day be with getting her post-discharge prescriptions filled. One of the medications was more obscure than she had imagined. They visited three different pharmacies in their rural area and were ready to give up hope when they finally visited the pharmacy at the local Meijer. They had the drugs! For $250! Oh, no. [More]
At Best Buy You Can Pay $3 More For Someone Else To Open A Product For You
By December 14, 2012
Consumerist reader R. came upon quite a non-deal at his local Best Buy and simply had to snap a photo using our mobile tipster app. Because otherwise how could we believe that Best Buy would display a higher price for an opened item than for a brand new one? Well, actually, we’d believe it anyway but proof is always fun. [More]
Departing Bed, Bath & Beyond Employee Would Like The Boss To Read The Fine Print
By December 7, 2012
While plenty of you might wish to quit your job in a blaze of invective-filled glory, not everyone has such a dramatic exit strategy. But that doesn’t mean employees like this Bed, Bath & Beyond guy or gal don’t want to make sure everyone knows their true feelings upon leaving a retail job. [More]
Hey, Best Buy Also Sent Me Five iPads When I Only Ordered One!
By December 6, 2012
As our post from last night about Best Buy’s five-for-one iPad deal burned up the Internet, some people wondered whether this had happened to anyone else out there. No, that couldn’t be: this is an expensive mistake. It can’t happen all the time. Then we heard from Nick, who has four spare iPads stashed in his closet, waiting for Best Buy to come back for them. [More]
Toys 'R' Us Releasing Tablet For Kids So Yours Won't Get As Smudgy During Epic Angry Birds Sessions
By September 10, 2012
My six-year-old nephew, who is of course perfect, is forever taking control of his mother’s iPod Touch in order to show me his latest conquest in Angry Birds or some game involving vegetables and zombies (which clearly go together). Because his mom is a saint of a woman, she doesn’t seem to mind when he smudges up the screen with his eager, ketchup-covered fingers. But in case you’re not a saint, Toys ‘R’ Us is hoping you might want to shell out some dough just to get your tablet kid-free with its new offering. [More]
Target Overthrows Walmart For The Title Of The Cheapest In The Land This Month
By August 23, 2012
We’ve been following the price tug-of-war between Target and Walmart as the two retail giants battle for the right to claim they’re the cheapest in the land. It seemed Target had the edge on Walmart last year, and now new research suggests you really will “pay less” at Target. [More]
'Sale' Is Not French For 'Charge $15 More'
By August 23, 2012
Shopping at Best Buy, Arthur noticed this odd shelf tag for DVD copies of “The Adventures of Tintin.” The double printing on the left indicates that something isn’t quite right with the sign. Yet it made its way onto the shelf in the real world, where people can see it, making everyone who has seen it just a little bit stupider. [More]
Best Buy Accepts Pre-Orders For Jaws, Sells All Copies To Other People
By August 15, 2012
The movie “Jaws” is out on Blu-Ray. Please try to contain your excitement. Reader Mark was pretty excited at the news, actually: he wanted Best Buy’s own exclusive version, and placed a pre-order for in-store pickup. He went to the store, waited around for an hour or so, and then finally learned: oh, yeah, all of the pre-ordered copies had been sold off the shelves accidentally. And an employee told Mark that this wasn’t the only store where that had happened. [More]
Sears Begins The Great Spin-Off Of Its Hometown & Outlet Stores Into Separate Company
By August 13, 2012
Spin-offs can work out well in some cases (right, Frasier fans?) and not so well in others (yep, we mean you, Joey) and in dealing with its Hometown, Outlet and some hardware stores, Sears is hoping everything goes swimmingly with the formation of a completely separate and publicly traded company. [More]
No Photography Please, This Is A BJ's Wholesale Club
By April 24, 2012
N. got in trouble while standing in the receipt check line at his local BJ’s warehouse club, but it wasn’t for attempting to leave the store without having his cart checked. No, it was for something far more insidious than that: snapping a quick picture of a board advertising club member prices for cruises so he could comparison shop later. What a hardened criminal! The receipt checker set off the door alarm, catching the attention of a nearby police officer, and insisted to N. that there is no photography allowed anywhere inside a BJ’s club, ever. Cool story bro, but that’s not actually true. [More]
Someone Thought It Was Smart To Grow Marijuana Inside A Meijer Store
By April 17, 2012
It’s quite a leafy news day, in terms of pot-related shenanigans going down. But in this case, the drugs weren’t being dealt online, but grown in a seemingly very public place — specifically, a nail salon located inside a Meijer store near Ann Arbor, Mich. Perhaps Mary Jane Manicures were on the list of services? [More]
Best Buy To Close 42 Stores, Hold Crappy Clearance Sales
By April 15, 2012
Customers stopping by some Best Buy stores around the United States on Saturday got a surprise: the stores had abruptly closed down for the day. When the electronics mega-chain announced a few weeks ago that they planned to close about fifty of their biggest boxes, they meant it. Forty-two Best Buy stores in twenty states (and one in Puerto Rico) will close by May 12. Or whenever they run out of stock: whichever happens first. [More]
Study Says The More Walmarts In The Area, The More Hate Groups There Are
By April 13, 2012
This one’s sure to boil some blood over at Walmart headquarters: A new study says there’s a significant correlation between the amount of Walmart stores in an area and the number of hate groups existing in that same area. As the big-box stores proliferate, so do the groups. [More]
