Avon, MA A new retail concept — BinStar — is gearing up to help consumers find great deals and save the landfills at the same time. BinStar opened its first store on the South Shore on Sunday, June 18th at 10 a.m. at 20 Stockwell Dr.
BinStar is on a mission to make retail landfill-free by turning high-quality merchandise returned to e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores into treasure for its customers.
The idea for the new retail concept came to 27-year-old Jamaica Plain resident Jack Laughlin while he was working on the returns problem at a large e-commerce company and couldn’t find a scalable buyer of the company’s returns and overstocks.
Upon further research, Laughlin learned that 9.6 billion pounds of new, returned goods end up in landfills every year.
BinStar will sell assorted returns and overstocks, all out of large bins. There will be no traditional retail merchandising, no price tags, and no e-commerce.
Each day of the week, every item in the store will be sold at the same price — with the fixed price for all items changing daily. Each item will cost $19 on Saturday, $15 on Sunday, $10 on Monday, $8 on Tuesday, $5 on Wednesday, $3 on Thursday and $2 on Friday. Fridays will be even more fun with everything going down to $1 from 4pm to close.
“With the opening of BinStar, we are excited to bring a new mission-driven shopping experience to New England,” said Laughlin. “Our shoppers will have the chance to ‘dig up’ incredible deals and contribute to solving a massive environmental problem at the same time. BinStar brings new meaning to everyday shopping, playing on the child-like fun of finding a treasure, which appeals to all ages.”
Customers will see different things in the bins every time they shop, in a widely diverse range, from AirPods to Ziplocs, and everything in between.
Anything BinStar acquires for sale – including high-ticket items such as iPhones and espresso makers – will go in the bins and be up for grabs for lucky shoppers. Unlike many other retail concepts, BinStar will not “cherry pick” any high-dollar items to sell online at a discounted price and will not markup any products for a separate sale.
The first BinStar location will employ approximately six to nine employees to start, and all full-time employees will earn equity in the business.
BinStar’s store and distribution center will be located at 20 Stockwell Drive in Avon, MA. Store hours will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.