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COMPANY UPDATE

Staying True

To Closeouts

continued from page 56

is apparel that we used to whole- sale for $3 a unit that we sell for $1.25 a unit wholesale today.” Bargain Max’s area for buying

closeout merchandise is the East Coast, all the way to the Missis- sippi, to Chicago, and Florida. “When we go out west,” he says, “the freight and logistics part of it are cost prohibitive.” The company buys merchandise in a variety of ways. Hipps says that if the deal is relatively small, the closeout seller can send Bargain Max photos, if Hipps feels comfortable with the supplier. If it is a large deal, the company wants to inspect the

merchandise personally. When Bargain Max likes what it sees, it cuts a check on the spot and watches while the merchandise is loaded into Bargain Max trucks. Doug Hipps got into the close-

out business through his parents. “I had always been around buy- ing and selling, and my parents had an antique shop. I was in the medical business when my parents asked me to liquidate their business. At one point, I was in the medical business, I had a side warehouse business, and I worked at fl ea markets on the weekend. My fl ea market busi- ness began to eclipse the medical business. Pretty soon, I got a big warehouse and went from a fl ea market business into closeouts.”

Today, Bargain Max will han-

dle any area of closeouts. For example, the fi rm carries high end apparel and designer clothing. At the same time, it has moved into selling heavy construction equipment. “Heavy equipment currently is the strongest part of our business,” explains Hipps. “This is all used equipment, and a lot of it is being sold on the continent of Africa. There is no recession in Africa currently; it is a boom continent. I continu- ally look for pockets of strength here in the U.S. and abroad. For example, Oklahoma City does not have much of a recession, and Texas has little recession as well. You have to look for different

continued on page 58

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