Revel in a corporation's misfortune - all Discovery Channel stores to close
I don't like to see good stores close. Especially an Aladdin's cave like The Discovery Store, which offers great educational toys and videos and is just a pleasure to walk around on a Saturday afternoon. But as some of you may already know, The Discovery Channel has different ideas (as reported by many news organizations including Reuters). In an effort to cut costs, CEO David Zaslav is closing all 103 of the retail stores and slashing over 1000 jobs. Ouch. The sales will move to the online world, which is ok but not as much fun to browse.
However, as a bargain hunter I like to find the silver lining in any cloud. And this time that silver lining comes in the form of hundreds of great deals. As each Discovery Channel Store closes, you'll see almost everything in the store go on clearance. Groovy toys, games, DVDs, they will all be subject to that wonderful invention - the discounting sticker. So much as I hate to see this fine store go, I'll be happy to grab a few bargains as they depart.
You can find the location of your nearest store here. Just remember to smile and be nice to the folks behind the counters. They're soon about to be looking for work, and that's never a fun thing to do.
Main photo by Tantek
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I love that store and I'll be sad to see it go.
I called one of the Southern California stores and they said they just started their clearance sale last Friday (6/1). They also said most of the other stores are on the same sales schedule.
This is going to be a great chance to pick up gifts for grads and dads.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Discovery Channel in HD. I just never understood stores like Discovery or even botiques like Brookstone. People are always going in there to play with the stuff and never buy anything. It's a long time coming I think.
but I do think "try before you buy" works to a great extent. I've purchased many things in stores like Discovery because I was able to see how cool they were. But the niche aspect of Discovery Store's products did work against them a little. I will be one of those folks that will miss DCS when it's gone.
kinda sad to see them go
i almost worked there a few years ago... oh well as long as the channels stay on the air i wont be uber devistated
The Boston store says the discount is 10-30% off now, to get steeper, but they don't know the schedule or closing date.
If other Wisebread readers can report in on sales in their area, we may get an idea of when to start shopping for the big clearance of 50% off or more.
Every time I went into a Discovery Store I expected to see the coolest stuff and I was always disappointed. They never sold anything that was new or exiting or even that was terribly scientific. The store was neither here, no there. It was a terrible toy store (because it never stocked anything cool enough to buy) and it was a terrible science experiment store because again, it never sold anything new or exciting and they were probably afraid of law suits so they never sold the stuff that may have been slightly dangerous.
I hate to see any retail go, but this one was no surprise. When you try desperately to bring science to the lowest common denominator, you will always fail because the lowest common denominator is usually wholly disinterested in science. There is no Mythbusters on Fox if you get my drift.
Went into a Los Angeles store today. There are still a ton of great stuff left. The salesperson told me that the online store is offering free shipping AND a free Planet Earth DVD with purchases. Just to go www.discoverystore.com/freedvd to get started.
She also told me that the B&M store sale is just starting, and in the next couple of weeks the prices will be dropping even lower. Here are some pics.
Up to 30% off:
20% off telescopes
The free DVD offer:
" Just remember to smile and be nice to the folks behind the counters. They're soon about to be looking for work, and that's never a fun thing to do."
Not so. Most of the employees in the stores now work for the liquidator, if not all of them.
Just wanted to inform you that when you are working for a store that is closing your job translates to the liquidator, you 1st get paid less and 2nd treated like crap. Most of these employees ( I worked at Discovery for over 2 years) have spent a few years working for the company and love what they do. It is heartbreaking to be there and watch the stores demise. So please be kind.
We never worked for the liguidator(Gordon Bros.) We were paid by Discovery, our pay never changed, I got good retention $$ to help close plus we were always first for the best deals. Unfortuately alot of us still have no jobs.