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Sudbury’s new liquidation store has a charitable bent

Nickel City Surplus is celebrating its grand opening at the Southridge Mall today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sudbury’s new liquidation store is celebrating its grand opening at the Southridge Mall today, and its operations carry a charitable bent.

“We feel we’re pretty fortunate, so we want to help people either in hard times or less fortunate,” owner Robert Grant told Sudbury.com in the store on Friday.

The items on the business’s shelves follow a seven-week cycle.

Six weeks ago, all items were stocked with white price tags.

Five weeks ago, all new items were stocked using a blue price tag, and so on with different colours for weeks one through five.

The colour of the tags on items will take on a different meaning each week, advancing an additional 10 per cent each week they remain on the shelves.

Right now, the six-week-old items with white price tags are 60 per cent off their marked value, and blue-marked items are 50 per cent off, with newer items discounted by lesser 10 per cent increments.

It’s a dynamic business environment wherein some customers gamble by delaying making a purchase until they’ve been discounted further, Grant said, adding, “It’s bitten a few people already,” when others swoop in to snag items before they can have a chance to buy them.

All items that reach their seventh week on shelves will be donated to a local charity, Grant said.

Everything with a white price tag left over after this weekend will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul Society Sudbury.

Grant is also looking to add a local women’s shelter as a recipient for unsold items.

“We want ones where the items go directly to someone and don’t get resold and potentially a bunch of money can go to administration,” he said.

With most of their merchandise made up of clothing and household goods, he said a lot of what they sell can be of use to people starting out on their own.

Grant was born in Sault Ste. Marie and grew up in the Greater Toronto area. 

He ran surplus stores in southern Ontario before relocating to Sudbury to take on a district manager position. Noticing a gap in the local marketplace, he said he became inspired to get back into owning and operating a surplus store again.

Nickel City Surplus sells items originally put up for sale at big box stores, which Grant bulk buys to sell at a discount.

Considering the area’s South End to be underserviced, Grant said the Southridge Mall became an ideal location to set up shop. He has hired three staff members, and opened the business on March 10.

Nickel City Surplus is open Friday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.


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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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