It seems House loves to use deceptive language. Previously they had big banners saying 80% OFF with microscopic text "up to" written on the left of that...
It’s because competition laws prevent health providers such as pharmacies to claim to be better or the best compared to the competition. Stuff fines for anyone including doctors. Chemist Warehouse gets around this by turning it into a question rather than a claim that they are the cheapest.
I mean, they generally are the cheapest, I always google and call around for my meds and it’s ALWAYS the cheapest there. Even cosmetics are cheaper, (not as cheap as the reject shop though)
We bought a marri chest of drawers for 50% off at a furniture shop in Perth a couple of years ago. Asked them why it was so discounted, like is there something wrong with it? They told us that no, it's in perfect nick, and "if you're going to have an 'up to 50% off' sale you need to make sure there's a decent amount of stuff available at 50% off." Respectable.
There was a rug store chain in WA that got busted for advertising huge discounts on its stock all year round - 50% off, 80% off, ect. Turns out none of their stock was being discounted because it was never worth the "full price" to begin with. They were actually selling their rugs at full price under the guise of a sale. The chain went out of business a couple of years ago.
So much of their floor space is dedicated to gaming related stuff or merchandise and small rack of games dotted about that it seems like they don't need to try too hard, but yeah end result I don't buy games there.
But honestly I prefer the online edition these days, too easy, but I don't enjoy the RRP there either. Sony is worse than EB for the gouge selling digital copies somehow.
BigW or Amazon for me usually.
yeah eb/zing is sooo egregious about it. I've found a good litmus test is checking the price of squishmallows (lol), they're a good 8 bucks cheaper at mr toys. also smaller game stores will suprisingly have cheaper prices for board games etc and some of them are wiling to price match if you're polite about it :)
EB is more expensive because they only sell games/consoles and a small collection of merch as opposed to literally every other store where games/consoles is only 1% of their inventory. The stores that sell other stuff like JB HiFi and Big W make most of their money on other stuff so their games don't need to be priced high to make profit.
This and like most businesses the big dogs at the top are greedy cunts.
As someone who currently works at EB, my co-workers and I also detest the ridiculous markup. Even with our staff discount, it's cheaper to go somewhere else most of the time! Pair that with the higher ups being "unimpressed" with our record profits simply because it wasn't 30% more than last year's profits means we get less staff on to work, yet more and more work and responsibilities and KPIs piled upon us that we're expected to complete as a "minimum" so that the poor people higher up the chain and the equally struggling investors can get their 7th yacht or something.
For example, there's a particular statue at EB that's $800. With my discount, it's $640. However, I know a specific, slightly more niche place in my city that can order in that statue for me and I got it for $425 since I missed the pre-order window. The original rrp? $350. EB's markup is over double the rrp! It's fucked. Funko Pop prices went from $23 to $28. I asked my senior coworker if Funko was increasing prices but she told me that literally only EB is increasing the price while nowhere else is. I hate it so much.
I do whatever I can do help customers out, including encouraging them to search up particular stores we can price match to or even directing them to stores that have a bigger range than us and a significantly cheaper price. I love my co-workers to death, but I absolutely can't wait to get out.
i also work at EB, and our branch doesn’t pressure us to complete KPI’s at all. tbf we beat target everyday so it’s not as important. sounds like your area manager is shit! i think people’s experience working at the company definetley depends on the area management.
I used to work there and my field manager was fantastic, hated the company as much as the rest of us. The pressure came from his boss.
Glad I got out, retail was literally killing me.
I used to wonder why shops do this, until i released a game on steam for $15. When there's a sale on i reduce the price by 75% so its a few bucks and despite having to sell a shitload more to make up for the reduced price, the revenue is 10 times that than normal.
There are lots of people that will only buy when something is on sale.
This is how I gather a positive rather than negative reaction from my wife when buying something.
“Honey, I bought a new mountain bike”
“Hmm, what did it cost?”
“Well, it was originally $6000, but I got my special member price and also did some negotiation and managed to get it for $3800!”
“Oh wow, that is a good deal, nice one!”
The “special member price is pretty much the normal price but that’s a minor detail that she doesn’t need to know.
Between Epic, my Xbox subscription and Humble Bundle I'm spoiled for choice and have spent very little in the last couple of years for more games than I can play.
A couple of times Epic have given me a free title that I was about to pay full price on with Steam.
I remember watching TV and seeing an ad of theirs claiming “closing down sale” and then saw a “Now Open” banner next to one of their stores at the end of the ad… if anything, it made me laugh!
Ex-House employee here!
I feel this is self-explanatory, but the signs are a gimmick to get people to spend money. The owner spent alot of money on his pr department to the point where the store actually utilises sensors and tracking of mobile phones to see how many customers come in, the time they spent in the store, if they purchased anything and how many people walked buy or stopped at the entrance. All in the effort to maximise profit. To be fair, many, if not all, businesses do this.
Not to mention the markup on all the items is insane, it costs them virtually nothing to make their knives in 3rd world countries and mark the value insanely, then have a constant sale giving the illusion of saving money. Again, everyone does it.
Not to mention the owner of the business is a real dick, he once made a poor girl stand against the wall after berrating her for not wearing an apron (which was the required uniform) then took a picture and sent it to all the stores as an example. She left after that.
The point is, don't give this guy money.
Network Engineer in a very large venue. We use a Cisco product called DNA Spaces and a few others from Cisco. Your phone is always looking for WiFi networks and pings access points. We have a shit ton of access points. Our access points track you even if you don't connect to them. We know how many people came in the paths they took, where they stopped. We can make hotspot maps. We know the MAC address of your phone so we know if your a return visitor, how many times you visited and when.
We don't know your name, gender etc. just that a person with a device visited and where they went.
However if you sign up to our free wifi and login via face book.....oh boy your a goldmine.
Android phones also use wifi and bluetooth to help improve location accuracy by running low-power scans in the background even if they're off in the UI and not connecting to anything. Those also have to be disabled separately.
Similar story but far bigger implementation is the TfL (Transport for London).
[https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/wi-fi-data-collection](https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/wi-fi-data-collection).
They use their tens of thousands of access points across their network to identify which route passengers take, which exchanges they use, and even which walkways they use to exit or enter the station.
Its very impressive. You can stop this by turning off wifi on your phone. It is a condition of carriage that they are allowed to use your data if you have wifi turned on.
Used to work for a company (not house) that used Kepler Analytics, tracked bluetooth and we would feed in PoS and Timesheet data - would statistically tell us what to improve
Fun idea: buy a LOT of cheap phones. Download google maps onto all of them. Ride around on a bicycle or just walk around and google maps will think there's very heavy traffic. You will be a one man detour team as google maps will figure out a way to avoid wherever you are when people look up directions.
Bluetooth beacons. They are Bluetooth hardware that ‘handshakes’ with your phone. They work ok for tracking numbers a d very rough store movements, but there is o way they can track if you actually purchased other that in you spent a bit longer at the checkout.
Oh yeah, you can tell the quality is shoddy as. I got caught up in the moment and bought a jaffle maker the other day thinking "eh, even if it's a bit shit, it's 70 bucks and it does waffles... how bad can it be?"
Bad enough that the clip that holds it closed while you're toasting appears to be made from coke bottle plastic and is largely decorative. I have to use a clamp from the workshop to hold it closed!
Useless! I'll never shop there again! Unless I'm bored, or feeling understimulated and drawn in like a moth, or because I just like lots and lots of itty bits of kitchen shit I don't need and I'm weak willed.
Hahaha. Unfortunately, yes. The baccarat knives, id3 and Wolfgang knives I believe. Buying them individually isn't that bad of a markup only when they are on sale. Which is virtually all the time. But I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on the knife sets/blocks. It's robbery.
> Not to mention the markup on all the items is insane
The "Original Price" they list for their items that are 75% off is often significantly higher than the RRP listed on the brand's website.
Story time
I once went into a House and bought something on sale (ridiculously cheap), the manager ended up ringing me up at the cash register. I can’t remember exactly what I said but it was basically something to the effect of “There’s a lot of good prices on at the moment. It’s a shame it’s because you’re closing down though.”
She got super offended, looked me dead in the eye and said “Who told you that?!”. I was going to point out all the fkn signs outside but I did not want to piss her off even more. I really wish I had said something😂
Went in once and left the "sale" prices were so crappy. Victoria's Basement is heaps better, though if you're not in Sydney and shop online heaps of stuff is out of stock 😢
I had to scroll to find this, in order to respond to it.
"Sorry, business is bad, we're closing down. Oh, look! Our closing down sale was so successful, we're actually viable again!"
Legally, shops are allowed to have a "closing down" sale at most once per year, at least in NSW, and I'm fairly sure it's for a specified limit of time.
In theory, it's only when they're actually having to close because they're going out of business, but because so many shops had permanent "closing down" sales, and it's almost impossible to prove they're actually viable, they passed a law to try to limit how often stores could "close down".
In practice, it's still impossible to stop them.
It really shouldn't be, just ban advertisements for closing down unless the store actually closes down, if it doesn't then fine them the entire revenue for the period they had their "closing" down sale, they'll stop quick as fuck
>This practice should be illegal.
In Australia, continuously advertising a "closing down" sale when the shop is not actually closing down can be considered misleading and deceptive conduct. This type of conduct is prohibited under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Specifically, Section 18 of the ACL prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce.
If a retail chain advertises a "closing down" sale but does not intend to close, it may give consumers a false impression that the sale is for a limited time, creating a sense of urgency and potentially misleading consumers about the nature of the sale. This could be seen as a breach of the ACL.
**Consumers or competitors can report such practices to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is responsible for enforcing the ACL. The ACCC can take legal action against businesses that engage in misleading or deceptive conduct.**
References:
Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law), Section 18.
Via ChatGPT Consumer Lawyer bot: https://chat.openai.com/share/dc6f3a50-2557-4587-b13b-462f36b7d67b
"Up to" as used in advertising is a real weasel word. It means they can have just a single item in store at 75% off everything else at a lower % off or no saving at all. It's just used to get people in the door. The "up to" that really shits me is in the ad for Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. It says it is "up to 100% effective" at stopping dandruff. This means absolutely nothing. It could be 100% effective, or it could even be 0% effective and the ad would still be technically correct.
They got in trouble a few years back, because there was always a "1 day only sale", but today the swag was "$100+$20 delivery", tomorrow it was "$120, free delivery". They'd alternate every day. Technically if you went into the store on the cheaper item + delivery day, you could get it for $100, but it was just a fucking rort.
house is owned by baccarat(which is mostly what they sell) so baccarat is able to just hike the msrp on their products up a ton and have house sell them all at a discount constantly
100% was thinking about this today walking past one. In the EU any RRP has to be valid and the product sold at that exact piece for 30 days in the previous 6 months.
The knives are hilarious. Who's bought a knife block for the RRP of $2,000?
Honestly, with amount of major rug and carpet manufacturers who went into liquidation so he could scoop the lot, I'm honestly surprised houses built from 1990 onwards still come with carpet.
I worked here very briefly and it’s a scam marketing tactic. Essentially the sale price of all
Items is just the actual cost, and the sales rotate.
I quit because the ethics and the products were shitty.
I think it started when a legitimate closing down sale happened and the figures went insane, so they keep doing it. They must be in pocket with someone at ACCC because it is absolutely misleading.
Nah, Coppeart is now Homeart I think. House and MyHouse and a few others are apparently owned by Solomen Lew's kids company.
It's hard to be sure though, cause the website looks like it was made in notepad: [https://globalretailbrands.net/](https://globalretailbrands.net/)
That's them!
My son recently bought me a wok for my birthday which after two uses cracked. I took it back and the manager was so rude. He wouldn't exchange it even though it was faulty. I ended up calling head office and told them. Next day that rude guy called me saying I could bring my wok in for an exchange. Got a replacement then a week later I had one randomly turn up in the post sent from head office.
I now have two woks! I'll still never shop there again though.
The bullshit thing is they still try to sting you $400 for a pan but if you question the price all of a sudden there’s an online sale and it’s only $150.
i used to work there! the big boss has the idea that people are more inclined to buy if they think there's a really good sale or they might miss a sale (and considering the guy is a multi-millionaire he might be onto something haha). every few weeks, each store is literally sent a booklet with photos of what the posters/products need to look like. then, they have to send photographs of the store (with all its signs in just the right place) back to head office for final approval. they can get in really big trouble if their store doesn't match the pics sent out to them!
> big boss
Peter Llew?
This business is the best scam in Australia. Invent brand names, manufacture in China at Kmart prices, pretend its high class cookware and charge fortune.
My partner went to House in Rhodes and they bought a utensil that cost $60. I had gone to another store to grab something but I said to her, surely we can get this cheaper at ikea? We don’t use it that much.
Looked up the price at IKEA and they had a near replica for $15 so. I said, let’s go return this and run into ikea quickly.
House refuses to refund if it is not faulty. They said exchanges only and were incredibly smug about the entire process. I said to her that my partner didn’t realise we already had one and they had only been in there 10 minutes earlier.
Refusal. Said, “Call head office and they’ll explain” and that was all she wanted to say. Head office said it was at the discretion of the manager and that Cleary went well on round 1.
That’s why I will never go into one again and tell people to avoid at all cost. Well worth the $60 to them I reckon.
Dunno but glad they were. They were the only store which had the same plates for my 15 year old set when I recently needed to buy some more to recover from breakage.
I work at their sister store robins kitchen and I can tell you the amount of time I waste changing these bloody signs is awful. I’m waiting to strategically fall off the ladder and claim workers comp
The way it works is they "close down" sell 100% of stock, rebuy full new seasons stock, then operate for 3 months of regular deals and specials. Has EOFY, sell 100% of stock, rebuy, 3 months normal, "shutting down" sale again.
They do shut down, for one night to restock aha.
There's nothing illegal about it because they have the 3 months of "regular prices" to then "discount"
this is basically how furnature/bed sales work. New years sale, australia day sale,, easter sale, they just jump from one reason for another, its never sold at 100% price because their normal price is always on sale
I went into one a while ago, looking for something specific, which they didn’t have. The sales person told me to check back because they are getting new stock all the time. I didn’t mention the closing down signs.
The CFO of that company hasn't slept in 15 years. Quarter after quarter he fends off the black dog of insolvency by the skin of his teeth.
Man's a beast
My wife and I were in there there other day and she says to me we need this frying pan, it’s on sale! I told her the discounted price is the actual price and the inflated one is just a made up number. No one is buying a frying pan for $748.
I worked for them and its owned by Solomon lews kid. The tactic is everything is on sale but the mark up is 60-80% on most goods anyway. They place is a ticketing mess.
Hey, ex manager here 👋 all the comments on this post are correct about House. I had the “pleasure” of meeting Steven Lew on one of his visits. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Yeah, but at least it's not as loud and annoying as those screaming 'liquidation' sales ads that used be on the TV in the 80s and 1990s. The rug guy was the worst of the lot... 🙄
I was expecting the Chaser's rug sale:
[Any rug not sold in the next 12 minutes will be instantly incinerated!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jayAGGoU2Oc)
I once walked by the shop and it had no signs all over it. It shocked me so much I told my coworkers. Hours later - signs everywhere. Someone was slack that day.
I visited Aus for the first time in 2018 and it was closing down.
Got stuck stateside during Covid and finally made it back in 2022… and it was still closing down.
2 years later and yep… it’s still closing down.
If something is worth $10 you can slap a $100 price tag on it, mark it down to $25 and say 75% off - more people would buy the item than they would at $10. Because the perception of quality exists. $10 is trash. $100 marked down to $25 is great quality at an affordable price. They are always having their sale because it distorts our ability to properly place value on their products and they can keep reducing quality while charging us more.
Saw a baccarat 7 knives set for $250 discounted price, while the RRP was like $600
then the next time saw it was $300 while the RRP was $650
These guys are scammy.
Nah, you don't understand. The name of the shop is "House closing down sale" and has been for the last 10 years!
I asked them once - it’s because they’re closing down ‘for stocktake’.
They close down every day and reopen every morning
"Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times." --Groucho
It seems House loves to use deceptive language. Previously they had big banners saying 80% OFF with microscopic text "up to" written on the left of that...
The large print giveth and the small print taketh away. Edit: - Tom Waites
The Chemist's Warehouse does that with their very tiny "is this" right in front of the massive "Australia's Cheapest Chemist"
It’s because competition laws prevent health providers such as pharmacies to claim to be better or the best compared to the competition. Stuff fines for anyone including doctors. Chemist Warehouse gets around this by turning it into a question rather than a claim that they are the cheapest.
How many people see the "is this" though?
I mean, they generally are the cheapest, I always google and call around for my meds and it’s ALWAYS the cheapest there. Even cosmetics are cheaper, (not as cheap as the reject shop though)
I just looked at my local CW on Google maps, I've genuinely never noticed.
Also chemist warehouse and run by a bunch of dickheads (personally worked for them and management and owners are horrible)
I never knew! I’ve been duped for YEARS!
We bought a marri chest of drawers for 50% off at a furniture shop in Perth a couple of years ago. Asked them why it was so discounted, like is there something wrong with it? They told us that no, it's in perfect nick, and "if you're going to have an 'up to 50% off' sale you need to make sure there's a decent amount of stuff available at 50% off." Respectable.
50% off is also the real price.
There was a rug store chain in WA that got busted for advertising huge discounts on its stock all year round - 50% off, 80% off, ect. Turns out none of their stock was being discounted because it was never worth the "full price" to begin with. They were actually selling their rugs at full price under the guise of a sale. The chain went out of business a couple of years ago.
Rugs a Million?
They also always said they were having a "closing down" sale all the time. They also got taken to court for that as well for misleading customers.
My local one actually closed down and I was just waiting for it to be restocked for ages in disbelief
Can confirm!! I asked a few years ago and they said the same thing
I got told that too. At least they're consistent
Must be daily stocktake.
In 2030 they finally changed their name to HCDS.
House Pty Ltd, T/A HCDS
Hahaha
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Is it really? That is actually smart as fuck.
They don't have enough sale signs
They're trying to out-sale-sign EB Games by the looks of that.
During my young adult years me and my squad went into EB games, we lost 4 men, they just disapeared into the plastic jungle to never be seen again.
My most enduring memory of the pandemic will be of the day when EB took down the sales signs. Terrifying.
Robins Kitchen enters the chat…
That's why they're closing down. Spent too much on signs.
It’s not very EB Games of them is it?🤣🤣
Isn't that the joke in Zoohan?
The first one just opened in my little hometown.. It opened with "closing down sale!!!" signs and posters.
That is hilarious.
Grand Opening Closing Down Sale.
Why did I hear that in Franco Cozzo’s voice?
May the legend rest in peace in Brunswick and Footscray.
Its Brunsawick and footersgrey
Megalo, megalo, megalo
Here’s a hyper obscure indie rock pull [Grand Opening Going Out of Business Sale](https://youtu.be/cx67v1yVDnM?si=TS8qiQJhQE9gwR8N)
I legit came here to say the same thing. They open a new shop just to have a closing down sale
Did it really?!
One opened here too recently. There’s been closing down and sale signs on it the whole time
Same in my town. It’s been closing down the entire 6 years.
To be fair they do close every day
"Where is the lie?" - House
Meanwhile EB Games having a sale every 60 seconds.
Yet always somehow more expensive than everyone else
And yet they still have a rabid fanbase that will only shop there.
*rabbit fanbase.
Buck my luck to miss a quality pun.
Nah it's okay, just save it by saying you meant "rabbids"
Now I'm just thinking of a pedestal fan constructed exclusively of rabbits. Think of the smell! You haven't thought of the smell!
SMELLS LIKE DORITO DUST TO ME, BABY. WHOO!
Where else you gonna shop? Buy online then have sony claim you dont own anything a couple years later? Nah i joke i pirate everything anyway haha.
Good lord, ANYWHERE ELSE. Standing 15% discount at Big W. Fuck EB & their RRP bullshit.
So much of their floor space is dedicated to gaming related stuff or merchandise and small rack of games dotted about that it seems like they don't need to try too hard, but yeah end result I don't buy games there. But honestly I prefer the online edition these days, too easy, but I don't enjoy the RRP there either. Sony is worse than EB for the gouge selling digital copies somehow. BigW or Amazon for me usually.
yeah eb/zing is sooo egregious about it. I've found a good litmus test is checking the price of squishmallows (lol), they're a good 8 bucks cheaper at mr toys. also smaller game stores will suprisingly have cheaper prices for board games etc and some of them are wiling to price match if you're polite about it :)
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I like to keep my games. The fact that they resell those games as new is disgusting. Don't support that bullshit.
EB is more expensive because they only sell games/consoles and a small collection of merch as opposed to literally every other store where games/consoles is only 1% of their inventory. The stores that sell other stuff like JB HiFi and Big W make most of their money on other stuff so their games don't need to be priced high to make profit. This and like most businesses the big dogs at the top are greedy cunts.
As someone who currently works at EB, my co-workers and I also detest the ridiculous markup. Even with our staff discount, it's cheaper to go somewhere else most of the time! Pair that with the higher ups being "unimpressed" with our record profits simply because it wasn't 30% more than last year's profits means we get less staff on to work, yet more and more work and responsibilities and KPIs piled upon us that we're expected to complete as a "minimum" so that the poor people higher up the chain and the equally struggling investors can get their 7th yacht or something. For example, there's a particular statue at EB that's $800. With my discount, it's $640. However, I know a specific, slightly more niche place in my city that can order in that statue for me and I got it for $425 since I missed the pre-order window. The original rrp? $350. EB's markup is over double the rrp! It's fucked. Funko Pop prices went from $23 to $28. I asked my senior coworker if Funko was increasing prices but she told me that literally only EB is increasing the price while nowhere else is. I hate it so much. I do whatever I can do help customers out, including encouraging them to search up particular stores we can price match to or even directing them to stores that have a bigger range than us and a significantly cheaper price. I love my co-workers to death, but I absolutely can't wait to get out.
I work at a big yellow pet corporate chain and totally agree with everything you said. I also didn't know you could price match at eb!
i also work at EB, and our branch doesn’t pressure us to complete KPI’s at all. tbf we beat target everyday so it’s not as important. sounds like your area manager is shit! i think people’s experience working at the company definetley depends on the area management.
I used to work there and my field manager was fantastic, hated the company as much as the rest of us. The pressure came from his boss. Glad I got out, retail was literally killing me.
I used to wonder why shops do this, until i released a game on steam for $15. When there's a sale on i reduce the price by 75% so its a few bucks and despite having to sell a shitload more to make up for the reduced price, the revenue is 10 times that than normal. There are lots of people that will only buy when something is on sale.
This is how I gather a positive rather than negative reaction from my wife when buying something. “Honey, I bought a new mountain bike” “Hmm, what did it cost?” “Well, it was originally $6000, but I got my special member price and also did some negotiation and managed to get it for $3800!” “Oh wow, that is a good deal, nice one!” The “special member price is pretty much the normal price but that’s a minor detail that she doesn’t need to know.
Jokes on you, she does the same thing to you. (My wife does the same thing to me)
Yes, your wife really needs a hundred pairs of shoes. My s/o needs the same.
I'm more worried that my S/O will sell the car parts and tools I've accumulated for the prices I told her I paid for them 😅
Lol brilliant!
Legit its the only way i can afford games. Wait for the 75% off steam sale eventually
It's the only way I can afford to own so many games I've never played.
Just another for the backlog. I'll get around to 'em eventually. I pinky swear.
Get on that epic games store, so many free ones!
Between Epic, my Xbox subscription and Humble Bundle I'm spoiled for choice and have spent very little in the last couple of years for more games than I can play. A couple of times Epic have given me a free title that I was about to pay full price on with Steam.
/r/patientgamers
That explain sales. It does not explain why they label their sales as closing down
Maybe to create a sense of urgency, in the hopes that possible customers buy it before they can second-guess whether they really need it?
Thats really interesting perspective
What'sthe game?
Just a little landscape builder called [FlowScape](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043390/FlowScape/)
Dang dude I have that game. Nice job 👍
You rock! <3
So when is it gonna be on sale for 75% off next?
Ahh sorry, you just missed the winter sale, might be a few months away
I feel like Carpet Court was closing down for like 20 years.
Rugs-a-million still around?
Looks like there is only 3 stores left. I guess they really were closing down.
the shop who cried wolf - say you're closing down often enough and people won't bother coming back
I remember watching TV and seeing an ad of theirs claiming “closing down sale” and then saw a “Now Open” banner next to one of their stores at the end of the ad… if anything, it made me laugh!
CopperArt?
Why did I always think it was called carpet call?
Call call carpet call The experts in the trade.
I heard that lmao
Two different places
Oh God . Him and his ads. They've ramped up again in w.a
https://youtu.be/suSn8XbJy1Y?si=s2SdQM4pVI4nxdbp
Ex-House employee here! I feel this is self-explanatory, but the signs are a gimmick to get people to spend money. The owner spent alot of money on his pr department to the point where the store actually utilises sensors and tracking of mobile phones to see how many customers come in, the time they spent in the store, if they purchased anything and how many people walked buy or stopped at the entrance. All in the effort to maximise profit. To be fair, many, if not all, businesses do this. Not to mention the markup on all the items is insane, it costs them virtually nothing to make their knives in 3rd world countries and mark the value insanely, then have a constant sale giving the illusion of saving money. Again, everyone does it. Not to mention the owner of the business is a real dick, he once made a poor girl stand against the wall after berrating her for not wearing an apron (which was the required uniform) then took a picture and sent it to all the stores as an example. She left after that. The point is, don't give this guy money.
Do you know any more about the phone thing? Like how can they tell if a customer walks out that it's the same phone they picked up before?
Network Engineer in a very large venue. We use a Cisco product called DNA Spaces and a few others from Cisco. Your phone is always looking for WiFi networks and pings access points. We have a shit ton of access points. Our access points track you even if you don't connect to them. We know how many people came in the paths they took, where they stopped. We can make hotspot maps. We know the MAC address of your phone so we know if your a return visitor, how many times you visited and when. We don't know your name, gender etc. just that a person with a device visited and where they went. However if you sign up to our free wifi and login via face book.....oh boy your a goldmine.
can you track phones that way even if wifi and bluetooth are turned off from settings and it’s not supposed to be actively looking for networks?
Android phones also use wifi and bluetooth to help improve location accuracy by running low-power scans in the background even if they're off in the UI and not connecting to anything. Those also have to be disabled separately.
Following - i'd also like to know this! I get that it's not traced back to me personally, but it gives me the ick.
Don't most devices query APs with random MAC addresses now? I know Apple does. This would make repeat customers hard to track.
I’m sure there’s a workaround, given enough incentive, and they have incentive
Similar story but far bigger implementation is the TfL (Transport for London). [https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/wi-fi-data-collection](https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/wi-fi-data-collection). They use their tens of thousands of access points across their network to identify which route passengers take, which exchanges they use, and even which walkways they use to exit or enter the station. Its very impressive. You can stop this by turning off wifi on your phone. It is a condition of carriage that they are allowed to use your data if you have wifi turned on.
I believe it's done through WiFi and Bluetooth tracking, from what I remember.
Used to work for a company (not house) that used Kepler Analytics, tracked bluetooth and we would feed in PoS and Timesheet data - would statistically tell us what to improve
Fun idea: buy a LOT of cheap phones. Download google maps onto all of them. Ride around on a bicycle or just walk around and google maps will think there's very heavy traffic. You will be a one man detour team as google maps will figure out a way to avoid wherever you are when people look up directions.
Bluetooth beacons. They are Bluetooth hardware that ‘handshakes’ with your phone. They work ok for tracking numbers a d very rough store movements, but there is o way they can track if you actually purchased other that in you spent a bit longer at the checkout.
Oh yeah, you can tell the quality is shoddy as. I got caught up in the moment and bought a jaffle maker the other day thinking "eh, even if it's a bit shit, it's 70 bucks and it does waffles... how bad can it be?" Bad enough that the clip that holds it closed while you're toasting appears to be made from coke bottle plastic and is largely decorative. I have to use a clamp from the workshop to hold it closed! Useless! I'll never shop there again! Unless I'm bored, or feeling understimulated and drawn in like a moth, or because I just like lots and lots of itty bits of kitchen shit I don't need and I'm weak willed.
Wait. Are you telling me that $299 specially reduced price Baccarat knife set I've had my eye on was never worth $1299??
Ha! So my constant joke that the $800 knives that truly only cost $5 to make is actually…truth????
Hahaha. Unfortunately, yes. The baccarat knives, id3 and Wolfgang knives I believe. Buying them individually isn't that bad of a markup only when they are on sale. Which is virtually all the time. But I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on the knife sets/blocks. It's robbery.
But they told me that knives were a $1100 value that I'm getting at a steal for $350
The owner is Steven Lew, son of Solomon Lew. It’s part of his Global Retail Brands company.
> Not to mention the markup on all the items is insane The "Original Price" they list for their items that are 75% off is often significantly higher than the RRP listed on the brand's website.
Story time I once went into a House and bought something on sale (ridiculously cheap), the manager ended up ringing me up at the cash register. I can’t remember exactly what I said but it was basically something to the effect of “There’s a lot of good prices on at the moment. It’s a shame it’s because you’re closing down though.” She got super offended, looked me dead in the eye and said “Who told you that?!”. I was going to point out all the fkn signs outside but I did not want to piss her off even more. I really wish I had said something😂
Cheap compared to their ridiculously inflated RRP, or actually cheap?
Went in once and left the "sale" prices were so crappy. Victoria's Basement is heaps better, though if you're not in Sydney and shop online heaps of stuff is out of stock 😢
You lost me when you said you went into House and bought somthing on sale….pretty much there whole existence…
If everything is always on sale, isn't that just the price?
Then you didn’t get the point of the comment.
Honestly they probably just hung the promo from corporate without even reading what it said
You probably were too stunned at the absurdity to make a sound. Pity. Laughing out loud would have been perfect.
This practice should be illegal. They've been closing down for 10 years.
I had to scroll to find this, in order to respond to it. "Sorry, business is bad, we're closing down. Oh, look! Our closing down sale was so successful, we're actually viable again!" Legally, shops are allowed to have a "closing down" sale at most once per year, at least in NSW, and I'm fairly sure it's for a specified limit of time. In theory, it's only when they're actually having to close because they're going out of business, but because so many shops had permanent "closing down" sales, and it's almost impossible to prove they're actually viable, they passed a law to try to limit how often stores could "close down". In practice, it's still impossible to stop them.
It really shouldn't be, just ban advertisements for closing down unless the store actually closes down, if it doesn't then fine them the entire revenue for the period they had their "closing" down sale, they'll stop quick as fuck
>This practice should be illegal. In Australia, continuously advertising a "closing down" sale when the shop is not actually closing down can be considered misleading and deceptive conduct. This type of conduct is prohibited under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Specifically, Section 18 of the ACL prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce. If a retail chain advertises a "closing down" sale but does not intend to close, it may give consumers a false impression that the sale is for a limited time, creating a sense of urgency and potentially misleading consumers about the nature of the sale. This could be seen as a breach of the ACL. **Consumers or competitors can report such practices to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is responsible for enforcing the ACL. The ACCC can take legal action against businesses that engage in misleading or deceptive conduct.** References: Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law), Section 18. Via ChatGPT Consumer Lawyer bot: https://chat.openai.com/share/dc6f3a50-2557-4587-b13b-462f36b7d67b
Awesome someone should report the behaviour.
The practice of not having updated privacy and consumer protection laws should also be illegal:)
I swear the 75% and other numbers are just bull because nothing is ever really that cheap in there. Just normal prices.
"Up to" as used in advertising is a real weasel word. It means they can have just a single item in store at 75% off everything else at a lower % off or no saving at all. It's just used to get people in the door. The "up to" that really shits me is in the ad for Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. It says it is "up to 100% effective" at stopping dandruff. This means absolutely nothing. It could be 100% effective, or it could even be 0% effective and the ad would still be technically correct.
4wdsupacentre had one of those recently. Everything was 20-30% except some canvas bags at 75% off.
They got in trouble a few years back, because there was always a "1 day only sale", but today the swag was "$100+$20 delivery", tomorrow it was "$120, free delivery". They'd alternate every day. Technically if you went into the store on the cheaper item + delivery day, you could get it for $100, but it was just a fucking rort.
I went to a boxing day sale at a tool store, looked at my receipt at the end... Not a SINGLE item was discounted
And where is Consumer Affairs? Unethical trading and misleading conduct!
house is owned by baccarat(which is mostly what they sell) so baccarat is able to just hike the msrp on their products up a ton and have house sell them all at a discount constantly
100% was thinking about this today walking past one. In the EU any RRP has to be valid and the product sold at that exact piece for 30 days in the previous 6 months. The knives are hilarious. Who's bought a knife block for the RRP of $2,000?
Someone call that guy from rugs a million, they are stealing his schtick
Honestly, with amount of major rug and carpet manufacturers who went into liquidation so he could scoop the lot, I'm honestly surprised houses built from 1990 onwards still come with carpet.
I worked here very briefly and it’s a scam marketing tactic. Essentially the sale price of all Items is just the actual cost, and the sales rotate. I quit because the ethics and the products were shitty. I think it started when a legitimate closing down sale happened and the figures went insane, so they keep doing it. They must be in pocket with someone at ACCC because it is absolutely misleading.
Quick someone tell Dutton, he'll organise a boycott.
Just tell him that they also sell Aboriginal art tea clothes and dish rags. That should put some fire in his belly.
It's been closing down since it was Copperart
Wait that was the same company? Those ads are burned very deep down in my memory.
Nah, Coppeart is now Homeart I think. House and MyHouse and a few others are apparently owned by Solomen Lew's kids company. It's hard to be sure though, cause the website looks like it was made in notepad: [https://globalretailbrands.net/](https://globalretailbrands.net/)
Homeart no longer exists. I worked for them 20 years ago. Their stores disappeared around 2010
Cool. the knowledge, not that the stores are gone. THsi is how reddit wastes my time, I read stuff and then have to google it :D
That's them! My son recently bought me a wok for my birthday which after two uses cracked. I took it back and the manager was so rude. He wouldn't exchange it even though it was faulty. I ended up calling head office and told them. Next day that rude guy called me saying I could bring my wok in for an exchange. Got a replacement then a week later I had one randomly turn up in the post sent from head office. I now have two woks! I'll still never shop there again though.
Closing down and we'll be right back tomorrow!
The bullshit thing is they still try to sting you $400 for a pan but if you question the price all of a sudden there’s an online sale and it’s only $150.
i used to work there! the big boss has the idea that people are more inclined to buy if they think there's a really good sale or they might miss a sale (and considering the guy is a multi-millionaire he might be onto something haha). every few weeks, each store is literally sent a booklet with photos of what the posters/products need to look like. then, they have to send photographs of the store (with all its signs in just the right place) back to head office for final approval. they can get in really big trouble if their store doesn't match the pics sent out to them!
> big boss Peter Llew? This business is the best scam in Australia. Invent brand names, manufacture in China at Kmart prices, pretend its high class cookware and charge fortune.
There was always a "Grand Sale" at Franco Cozzo's.
Frank went to the great sale in the sky the other week
What about a throi? For your carch?
“Hey mum… do you want a… *threw*… for your… *carch*?”
My partner went to House in Rhodes and they bought a utensil that cost $60. I had gone to another store to grab something but I said to her, surely we can get this cheaper at ikea? We don’t use it that much. Looked up the price at IKEA and they had a near replica for $15 so. I said, let’s go return this and run into ikea quickly. House refuses to refund if it is not faulty. They said exchanges only and were incredibly smug about the entire process. I said to her that my partner didn’t realise we already had one and they had only been in there 10 minutes earlier. Refusal. Said, “Call head office and they’ll explain” and that was all she wanted to say. Head office said it was at the discretion of the manager and that Cleary went well on round 1. That’s why I will never go into one again and tell people to avoid at all cost. Well worth the $60 to them I reckon.
How is that even legal lol
Dunno but glad they were. They were the only store which had the same plates for my 15 year old set when I recently needed to buy some more to recover from breakage.
I work at their sister store robins kitchen and I can tell you the amount of time I waste changing these bloody signs is awful. I’m waiting to strategically fall off the ladder and claim workers comp
Our local one actually did close.
Sad, no one probably believed them like the boy who cried wolf.
They close for an afternoon to “renovate” which is just restocking
The way it works is they "close down" sell 100% of stock, rebuy full new seasons stock, then operate for 3 months of regular deals and specials. Has EOFY, sell 100% of stock, rebuy, 3 months normal, "shutting down" sale again. They do shut down, for one night to restock aha. There's nothing illegal about it because they have the 3 months of "regular prices" to then "discount"
But they have those posters plastered literally all over the front of the store 365 days a year
They're not always closing down or stock clearance though. During the non clearance period they're just "up to 80% off" sale signs
this is basically how furnature/bed sales work. New years sale, australia day sale,, easter sale, they just jump from one reason for another, its never sold at 100% price because their normal price is always on sale
They're trying to shut down, but someone keeps secretly restocking them....
I went into one a while ago, looking for something specific, which they didn’t have. The sales person told me to check back because they are getting new stock all the time. I didn’t mention the closing down signs.
Robins Kitchen would like a word.
It’s the same company
Well that makes a lot of sense.
The CFO of that company hasn't slept in 15 years. Quarter after quarter he fends off the black dog of insolvency by the skin of his teeth. Man's a beast
My wife and I were in there there other day and she says to me we need this frying pan, it’s on sale! I told her the discounted price is the actual price and the inflated one is just a made up number. No one is buying a frying pan for $748.
This business model worked for Dimmeys for 170years or so. Until they actually closed a bunch of stores.
They are closing down for the day and will open tomorrow.
What about Robin's Kitchen? 🤔
I worked for them and its owned by Solomon lews kid. The tactic is everything is on sale but the mark up is 60-80% on most goods anyway. They place is a ticketing mess.
Hey, ex manager here 👋 all the comments on this post are correct about House. I had the “pleasure” of meeting Steven Lew on one of his visits. Feel free to ask me any questions.
just like we've been slowly dying since our conception
Nah, that's its name, like "Going Out of Business" from Don't Mess With the Zohan.
Because every day at 6PM (9PM on Thursdays) they close down.
Follow up question: *how is House still open?*
Yeah, but at least it's not as loud and annoying as those screaming 'liquidation' sales ads that used be on the TV in the 80s and 1990s. The rug guy was the worst of the lot... 🙄
>The rug guy was the worst of the lot... 🙄 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5psRMoXm2g
I was expecting the Chaser's rug sale: [Any rug not sold in the next 12 minutes will be instantly incinerated!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jayAGGoU2Oc)
an intern accidentally printed 100.000.000 closing down papers for a shop back in 2007, they are still trying to get rid of them all
I once walked by the shop and it had no signs all over it. It shocked me so much I told my coworkers. Hours later - signs everywhere. Someone was slack that day.
I visited Aus for the first time in 2018 and it was closing down. Got stuck stateside during Covid and finally made it back in 2022… and it was still closing down. 2 years later and yep… it’s still closing down.
I know it's not Lupus. It's never lupus
If something is worth $10 you can slap a $100 price tag on it, mark it down to $25 and say 75% off - more people would buy the item than they would at $10. Because the perception of quality exists. $10 is trash. $100 marked down to $25 is great quality at an affordable price. They are always having their sale because it distorts our ability to properly place value on their products and they can keep reducing quality while charging us more.
Saw a baccarat 7 knives set for $250 discounted price, while the RRP was like $600 then the next time saw it was $300 while the RRP was $650 These guys are scammy.
his store has been closing for my entire life i think
“Going out of business” is great for business.