Sunderland Echo reporter Neil Fatkin is at the new Bargain Clearance Centre in Washington, Sunderland, aheads of its opening on Friday, May 3.
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00:00I'm at the Bargain Clearance Centre here in Washington where I'm with Manager Dean Orne and Orne Lee
00:06and we've come to check out the new site here where they've moved from their previous site down in Albany.
00:11So yeah, what's the benefits of this site compared to the previous one?
00:14Yeah, so basically we've moved to a bigger site. We've got a lot better at the old site.
00:19We had some issues with parking, disabled access, things like that.
00:26So we've now moved to a bigger premises where we can hold a lot more stock.
00:30We've got a much bigger car park. We've got a brand new entrance put in for disabled access
00:35and we can give a lot more offers as you can see.
00:39I understand you're opening tomorrow and across the bank all the weekend.
00:42So what special deals have you got? Have you got any sort of promotional things?
00:45Yeah, so the grand opening tomorrow. We'll open Friday and Saturday from 9am till 5pm.
00:53We'll open Sunday and Monday from 10am till 4pm.
00:56We're going to have lots of promotional prices on some of the products.
01:01We're going to have a giveaway of raffle tickets to every person that comes in.
01:06You can win in-store vouchers to spend.
01:10We're going to have a big prize for the first person to come in.
01:14We're going to have a bit of entertainment.
01:17We're going to have a bouncy castle.
01:22We've got costumes, we've got Stitch, Peter Rabbit and War Patrol coming over the four days.
01:29So yeah, it's going to be exciting.
01:33And that's 9am tomorrow it starts?
01:359am tomorrow.
01:37I'm guessing a bit like the old shop, the theme is giving customers the best deals possible.
01:42Yes.
01:43What sort of knock-down pricing? How much is a bravo that you normally pay into your high street shop?
01:47Well, for example, here we've got the bravo 9-pack, 3-pack toilet roll.
01:523-pack and a pack or 2-packs for a fiver.
01:55We've got 4 screen wash here, that's £2.50 for a 5-litre bottle of screen wash.
02:02We've got empty-bottle, you've got a 12-pack there, £2 for the full 12 cans.
02:09And then, as you can see, we've got mountains and mountains of pop and soft drinks.
02:15We've got chocolate, we've got Christmas sweets.
02:19Then we've got cleaning products, household products.
02:23And then we've got a big garden furniture section we're going to have at the back.
02:29And then a lot of home and DIY products as well.
02:32So you basically get your products when other businesses are closing, does it?
02:36Yeah, so we specialise in end-of-line products and discontinued products.
02:41So we can get them in at a cheap price and out at a cheap price to the customer.
02:46Okay, let's go and have a look around. Do you want to take us on a tour of what you've got?
02:50Just various different items going out now.
02:54We've still got a lot to go out. We're going to be burning the midnight oil tonight, I think, to get the rest of the stock out.
03:01We've got suspension stuff there.
03:03Yeah, we've still got all the pop, all the confectionery stuff.
03:07And is that again cheaper than what you'd get at a normal shop, is it?
03:10Yeah, it is, yeah.
03:15Where's the garden stuff going?
03:17This is going to be where all the garden stuff's going to be going.
03:20So it needs to be unpipped here, so what sort of stuff will you have coming here then?
03:23So we've got rat hand sets, we've got sun loungers, we've got fire pits.
03:27Rocking sets.
03:28Rocking sets, tables and chairs, barbecues.
03:31Will they all be set out ready for tomorrow morning?
03:33They'll all be set out, yeah.
03:34I'm guessing this will make you popular with SLOV?
03:36Hopefully.
03:37Hopefully, summer or winter.
03:39Yeah, we do a lot. We do a massive range of the Spanish cleaning products, which are really popular now.
03:45So that's all going to be down here.
03:47If I can't get in there at the minute, that's still to go on the shelves.
03:52Massive range of tubs of sweets.
03:57Do you do white goods as well?
03:59We do do white goods, we do do likes of fridges and things like that.
04:04It's more smaller products.
04:06Children's toys?
04:07Children's toys.
04:09Some DIY products.
04:13Coming down there, some bits of furniture.
04:16Bar stools, bins.
04:19Baby baths.
04:20Coat stands.
04:23So basically anything and everything, which is sort of reduced price.
04:26A section where we have factories, dog beds, pens, heaters.
04:32And then all the pet food and toy products.
04:35So in terms of size, how much bigger is this site than the old one?
04:38It's about almost twice as big as the old site.
04:41Right.
04:42So I'm guessing you get twice as much stock in as well?
04:44We get twice as much stock on the shop floor as we do in the warehouse as well.
04:48And part of the issue I've been myself is only a small car park.
04:51How many spaces have you got out the front here?
04:53We've got 50 spaces out the front here.
04:55And as you mentioned, also good for wheelchair access.
04:58Yes, we've had the path lowered and the drop curb put in so we can get wheelchair access.
05:03We now have trolleys and flatbed trolleys as well for everyone taking all the pop.
05:09So it's a lot better for the customer.
05:11So excited about tomorrow then?
05:13Yeah, really excited.
05:14It's been a hard two months putting everything together and getting everything in place,
05:20getting the building ready before we got the initial stock in.
05:23But we'll be there tomorrow.
05:26I'm guessing the demand must be there because obviously you're a business.
05:29And you also must have done well to move to somewhere twice as big.
05:31Yes, yeah.
05:32We find we were getting a lot more customers and the issue was maybe the car park.
05:37So we just couldn't handle the volume of customers that were coming in.
05:41Because these days everybody wants a bargain.
05:43It obviously costs living at the moment.
05:45It's particularly important now that you're making a lot of people good deals.
05:47Yes, yeah.
05:50So excited then tomorrow?
05:51Yes, yes.
05:52Got a message for everyone?
05:53Get yourself announced?
05:54Get yourselves announced.
05:55First customer's going to be in for a surprise.
05:57And we'll be giving raffle tickets out every day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
06:02And we will be doing three prizes a day.
06:05And they'll be drawn as soon as we close.
06:08We'll draw it and we'll post it on social media.
06:11So you'll be in for in-store vouchers.
06:14Three in-store vouchers, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
06:17So get in, grab an absolute bargain and hopefully win a prize as well.