Raleigh store offers top-of-the-line products for just $10, but there is a catch

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- You've heard about the challenges awaiting you this holiday shopping season: higher prices, massive shipping delays, supply and demand issues. However, at least one Triangle store is not having any of those problems, and it's drawing a big crowd.

It's called Treasure Hunt Liquidators and it's off Capital Boulevard. Shoppers camped out and lined up hours before the store opened Friday.

"We show up the day before, and set up a tent, and have an air mattress, so we're first in line," shopper Asalyn Spencer said.

Spencer and her friend Makayla Ridgeway drive all the way from Mebane every week to make sure they are the first in line to find the deals.

"I've gotten two to three pairs of air pods, air fryers, Instapots, tablets," Spencer adds.

Judy Hepburn from Raleigh also makes a habit out of lining up the day before the store opens. She says, "I came yesterday about 7-7:30 and spent the night here."

It pays to get in line early as the line grows quickly the closer it gets to the store's opening, which happens at 10 a.m. every day except for Thursday.

So what attracts the shoppers to this location? Everything inside the store in the bins is just $10.

"You could find anything from air fryers to electronics, iPads, air pods, pots, and pans. We buy all shelf pulls, returns, and overstocks from all the big box retailers--Amazon, Walmart, Target," Treasure Hunt Liquidators owner George Milano said. "It's a treasure hunt for us just like it is for everybody else."

A treasure hunt because Milano never knows what each crate brings until they open it.

"We open up trucks every week and whatever we find in the trucks we offer to the public. Don't come on looking for one specific item. Just look for a deal," he said.

Every Friday is restock day where you'll find the best items. While looking in the bins we found a Shark Robot vacuum cleaner with a sticker price of $579.00, but since it's in the bin it's just $10.00. We also found clothes, shoes, and high-end beauty products, all just $10.00 each.

Here's the catch (sort of). While you can find treasures, you can also find broken items. Everything in the bins is sold "as is," and remember it could be a returned item to one of the major retailers.

Milano admits there is a 10% defect rate. He showed Troubleshooter Diane Wilson a game controller, "This is what we call a defect, it might come in as a controller without a charger." Milano showed us another example with a smartphone. "One of those folding G-Fold smartphones, but the back screen is cracked; this is something someone is going to pick up for $10."

Spencer, who has been shopping at Treasure Hunt Liquidators since it opened, has gotten broken items a couple times. But for her, it's still worth it to come out and shop every Friday.

She recalls a few of the ear pods she got only having one side that worked, and a tablet with a cracked screen that otherwise worked fine. While she keeps some of the products for herself, her main reason for shopping here each week is to make money.

"I'm a college student, so I re-sell and pay off college. We usually spend about $180 and make about $500.00 in reselling," Spencer said.

For those of you looking for a deal, but not ready to risk it, Milano created an area called the treasure chest. There he has placed working, good condition products that are still cheaper than retail price but more expensive than $10.

Or conversely if you're trying to crank up the risk factor, why not just buy a whole wrapped pallet? Milano offers full mystery pallets and mystery boxes for various prices. The store's website even offers an entire truck load of Amazon products for $9,900.

If you can't make it Friday, or $10 is too much for you, the price drops every day: $8 Saturday, $6 Sunday and all the way to Wednesday where it's $1. After Wednesday, everything not sold is donated. Then, come Friday, the store does it all over again with new products.

Some thing to keep in mind if you plan to shop on $10 Fridays:

• Shoppers start lining and camping out up to twenty four hours before the store's 10 a.m. Friday opening
• At 6 a.m. on Friday tickets are distributed to all of those in line
• Once you have a ticket, you just need to be back in line around 9am on Friday, when the store starts lining shoppers in order of their ticket number
• Only about 80 shoppers are let inside the store at it's 10am Friday opening
• Everyone still in line can not get in, until a shopper leaves, which some shoppers stay for hours as store employees continue to re-stock the bins throughout the day