The owners of a Hixson business say their goal is to give local families an easy way to save on household essentials. But now the owners are fighting inflation and ongoing supply chain issues to keep those expenses from their customers.
Finders Keepers Treasure Seekers have been open for two years, and this is the first week the business has not made a profit. The owner estimates they will lose $1,200 this week and that doesn’t include the 500 items that customers have damaged each week in the bins.
“The freight’s gone up, almost doubled. The trucks have gone up about 20-percent, so we’re out about another 30-percent for our product,” said Jerry Evans, the Vice President and Owner of Finders Keepers Treasure Seekers.
Jerry Evans and his wife opened the bin store on Hixson Pike in August 2020. Even with the cost increases they are facing, they haven’t raised their prices since they started.
“We don’t want to pass that on to the customer. We would try to absorb that. We’ve actually, my wife and I have actually cut our pay. We try to absorb some of that as well, but at some point I think it’s going to get to the point where we have to raise the prices,” Evans told us.
Their business liquidates all big-box retailers. They put their shipments in big boxes and on Saturdays you can get whatever you find for $5. Sunday everything is $3. Monday is $1. And Tuesday is 50 cents. They spend the rest of the week restocking.
While most customers are respectful and follow the rules, there are some who are hurting their business more than the cost increases.
“Tear open packages. They’ll open a package, not close it back up, so if it’s something that has five or six parts to it, then that is getting dumped in bins. You come along and you want that same item, but you can’t find all the product,” Evans said.
Evans says they lose between 500-600 items a week because of this, which is about $50,000 they’ll never see.
Because of the ongoing struggles, they may have to finally raise their prices.
“If we do go up, we’ll take the five dollar day, the first day that we’re here, and we’ll go to $6. That’s the only thing that we’re going to do,” said Evans.
He’s also had problems in the past with customers stealing. He’s not above prosecuting you and putting you on blast, even if it’s just a 50-cent day.
“My wall of shame is if you steal from me, your face is going to go on my wall,” Evans said.
Every person on that wall has successfully been charged.
A combination of all these problems is hurting his business, which in return is hurting the community. Some people re-sell these these cheap items for supplemental income and some use it as a means to provide for their family.
“At Christmas that year, a lot of people came in here, and they were coming up to my wife and I and telling us thank you. They’re crying almost because they come in here, they buy some food — we’ll have food on the shelves from some of our big-box retailers and that’s the only way they’re feeding their kids that week,” said Evans.
