‘So Ross is a thrift store now’: Shopper finds Ross selling broken items in baggies

A Ross Dress For Less shopper shows viewers a series of "unhinged" items for sale in baggies.

TikTok user Ashley and Blair Beauty (@ashleyandblairbeauty) recently posted a video from a Ross store. In the text overlay, she writes, "unhinged Ross finds (worse than goodwill)."

The creator says she went into the store because she saw videos of people finding Tree Hut products there. She did indeed find a few containers of the brand's Lavender Shea Sugar Scrub and a bottle of Brightening Pineapple & Papaya Face Scrub. "This one doesn't have a price tag on it, but these are really good finds," she says of the latter product.

The good finds couldn't last, however. "Now, onto the weird stuff," she says. First up is a bottle of Chi Dry Shampoo with a T.J. Maxx tag on it. "There's a T.J. Maxx in the same shopping center, but how did this end up here? I'm confused."

Next up is "random cr*p" placed in baggies with price tags on them. "They're just putting stuff in a Walmart baggie and then sticking a price tag on it," she says. "So the pens were 99 cents. We've got some shoelaces for 99 cents. We've got this random charger for some electronic; this looks like it fell out of a box, and they just put 49 cents on it because they don't know what to do with it."

She then pulls out a bag with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure. "Here's a good one," she says. "We've got Donatello. Maybe your kid wants to play with this, but he has no arm, no foot, no packaging, nothing—and it's $3.99."

Finally, she presents the final baggie. "I guess this is some sort of garden tool? I don't know, but they have $7 on this—in a baggie. What are you doing, Ross?" she asks. In the caption, she writes, "Ross, are u ok?"

What's going on with Ross?

Goodwill shoppers have complained about its thrift stores selling junk—and even trash—at times, but those offerings are at least supposed to be used. Ross inventory, however, is generally purchased from manufacturers that produce it for another retailer, according to the company's website.

Despite the strange inventory and other issues, Ross continues to thrive and maintain a loyal customer base. In an article on the topic from 2017, Yahoo quotes a Morgan Stanley analyst who explains the brand's ongoing success, which is in part attributable to its rejection of e-commerce. "Consumers increasingly prefer the off-price' better brands at lower prices' value proposition over moderate department stores' private label merchandise despite the easier shopping experience," the analyst said. The chain's profits remain on the rise in 2024.

@ashleyandblairbeauty Ross, are u ok????? #unhinged #rossfinds #rossdressforless #rossshopping #rossdressforlessfinds #rossdress4less #rossshopwithme #rossshoppingvlog ♬ original sound - ashleyandblairbeauty

The video has amassed 109,000 views as of this writing. In the comments section, viewers expressed their own opinions about the state of Ross.

"So Ross is a thrift store now," one viewer joked.

A second viewer wrote, "crazy thing is Goodwill would of probably priced these items higher."

A third viewer said, "Ross goes 'nothing goes to waste here.'"

Some retail workers said this is a company policy when handling destroyed packaging or stolen items. One viewer wrote, "At Burlington we either had to throw opened, random things like that away or put a low price on them. I think selling them for cheap is good option."

The Daily Dot reached out to Ashley and Blair Beauty and Ross Dress for Less via email for comment.

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