Smart Buys at Stupid Prices – Getting Bigger and Better in Kenmore
“Stupid Prices” is now Smart Buys
7808 N.E. Bothell Way
Kenmore, WA 98028
425-481-1227
Recently, I had a telephone conversation with the owner of the new and expanded Smart Buys store in Kenmore, Bruce Martin. His passion and enthusiasm about Smart Buys (formerly Stupid Prices) is hard to ignore. He even promised that, “I’ll give $100 to anyone who can show me a more elegant discount store chain.” Well, I couldn’t resist a challenge like that, so today I wandered over to see the new store in the Kenmore Square Shopping Center and, frankly, I was pleasantly surprised:
It’s big, it’s bright, it’s packed with a huge inventory and Smart Buys has opened its doors nine days ahead of the official grand opening on February 28th. So what makes Smart Buys unique? Here is an explanation from the company website:
“At Smart Buys we obtain name brand, high-quality products and goods from various sources including major retailers, department stores, retail wholesale clubs, importers and national distributors. These are all new clearance and surplus items, discontinued merchandise, overstocks, display & floor models, customer returns & closeouts. We also buy factory overruns directly from manufacturers around the world. We then sort all of this merchandise and send it to our 19 deep discount retail stores.”
As I wandered the isles of Smart Buys, it was apparent that the store carries almost anything one would need around the house: food, cleaning products, gardening supplies, clothes, kitchen ware, toys, jewelry, furniture, electronic & camera equipment, appliances and much, much more. The staff was friendly and helpful and there were a number of customers wandering around who were obvious finding what they were looking for because they had full carts. Just click on the picture below to see a slide show of the store:
Of course, Smart Buys is all about offering the lowest prices possible to the consumer. I saw some pretty good discounts on a number of items in the store and I would encourage you to visit soon. I’ve provided you with a link to the company’s website where you can learn more about the discounts and warranties that are available.
March 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
we converted all 20 of our stores to Smart Buys on 3-1-09. Kenmore is the only city that has held us up in this difficult economy from getting a simple signature so we could be complete with our signage for our grand opening. Meyers sign has called every 4 hours to the permit department with no success for 3 day’s. it is most likely due to the stack of signs to be reviewed with all the retail growth going on at this time. between the road work and the lack of empathy it is a miracle we are still in business.
Bruce, a husband, father and grandparent trying to hold on.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
[...] more on Smart Buys at Stupid Prices [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I live in Kenmore right by the Smart Buys store. Their new store is great, although they could use a higher quality of employees. I was leaving the store recently when a customer came in and asked the woman at the register where the headphones where. She just shrugged. So I asked him if he was looking for Ipod-type headphones, stereo headphones, or road construction ear protectors. He wanted I-pod type so I pointed him in the right direction. Come on, every sale matters. Know your store!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:42 am
[...] a blog post about the grand opening of Smart Buys on my sister blog KenmoreMerchantsUndressed.com : Smart Buys at Stupid Prices Getting Bigger and Better in Kenmore. At that time the owner explained to me that the “discount pricing model” would fit [...]