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FH Liquidation warehouse sales offer savings on all kinds of merchandise




FH Liquidation owner Eric Crawford (right) and one of his employees Caleb Lequire show one of the big TVs available for purchase at their warehouse sale.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

FH Liquidation owner Eric Crawford (right) and one of his employees Caleb Lequire show one of the big TVs available for purchase at their warehouse sale.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

I do love a warehouse sale, and I do love multi-category setups where you never know what you might find.

So, when I heard about the every other Saturday FH Liquidation sales, I got up early to check one out and I was NOT disappointed.

Held in a 12,000 square foot warehouse out on Air Lane Drive, this is a goody!

To give you an idea of what is on the shelves, my list of purchases at a recent sale included a 120-pod box of Kirkland’s coffee for $25, a massive box of 200 garbage bags for $15.50, a cute seersucker skort for $8, a fishing shirt for $5, a 12-pack (missing two boxes) of Kleenex tissues for $6, and a Sealy bed pillow for $8.50.

Oh, and a super cute Tommy Bahama beach chair for $25.

The warehouse is filled with indoor and outdoor furniture, rugs, men’s and women’s clothing, linens, shoes and boots, TVs, books and assorted household and paper goods. And at some sales they have dry goods like Nabisco products.

And then I saw random items like folding wagons, a massage chair, cookware, shower heads, magnified reading glasses, golf gloves, curtain panels, sheet sets, garden hoses, security lights, and even a lone acoustic guitar and a ready to assemble gazebo.

There are many selections of all kinds of clothing available for sale at the FH Liquidation warehouse sales.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

There are many selections of all kinds of clothing available for sale at the FH Liquidation warehouse sales.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

The owner of this business, Eric Crawford, who was one of the founders of what is now the 94-store Essex Bargain Hunt liquidation chain, won’t say where he gets the FH merchandise, which is a combination of new, overstocks, customer returns and excess stock.

But we saw familiar like brands Kirkland’s, Tommy Bahama, Sketchers, Levi’s, Eddie Bauer and others that you see at the wholesale clubs like Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s and big box stores like Target and Best Buy. Might be some Amazon merch mixed in too. And I hear that the rugs come from Wayfair.

Crawford said the top selling categories are patio and home furniture, TVs and clothing. “And you never know what deal we will have brought in for that sale,” he said, adding that sometimes he doesn’t even know what is coming in on the next truck.

Customers examine some of the items for sale at the FH Liquidation warehouse sale.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

Customers examine some of the items for sale at the FH Liquidation warehouse sale.MARY HANCE/Main Street Maury/cheatham county exchange

He says he tries to price items at about 30-50 percent below retail.

“After we sold the (Bargain Hunt) company in 2015, I worked for the new ownership for three years, and left at the end of 2018,” said Crawford. He said that after taking some time off, “I wanted to get back in the liquidation business and focus on creating a fun, community based, liquidation retail experience.”

He started the bi-weekly Saturday sales in April.

“We fill the warehouse up with everything from patio sets, sectionals and other furniture, clothing, TVs, and open the doors for these Saturday only events. Most of our sourcing comes from the large warehouse club retailers, so we have the best brands and assortments starting at 30% off their retail pricing.”

“I felt the Middle Tennessee community needed a new, exciting liquidation store that focuses on furniture, patio, home goods, TVs, and other great deals to help support Nashville’s business and real estate boom.”

Hance

Hance

The TVs, which come with a 30-day guarantee, are a big draw, with a 55-inch LG TV priced at $269 and a 65-inch Samsung model at $399. I also saw a Westinghouse 24-inch TV for $59.

Clothing is a nice addition to the mix, with all men’s shorts and pants (including lots of name brands) priced at $10 and with specialty items like ladies Danskin leggings priced at $8, and all ladies tops at $8.

He said most of the merchandise is new and store display items, and “the inventory is different for every sale. Our customers are loving the events. It’s great to be able to sell furniture, patio sets, and everything else at a big discount especially in these times of rising prices and limited availability.

“We started in a small space to test the waters and have found that people are really loving what we are offering.”

He hopes within the next six months to a year to have a bigger warehouse- “two to three times the space so we can service more customers.”

But he says he wants to keep it a biweekly shopping event. “I’m thinking much bigger, same concept, and keep it local” and still continue as a much smaller than his previous company.

“I am not looking to become another Bargain Hunt with 90 stores,” he said

In addition to the biweekly sales, Crawford’s team also sells its merchandise through auctions.

“We sell 3-4 different auctions every week on McLemore,” Crawford said. “It is another sales channel for us,” he said noting that with McLemore, it is local pickup, which also introduces those customers to his in-store sales.

“People come in and pick up their items, and we will promote our warehouse sales to these bargain hunting McLemore customers. It’s a great complimenting business. It drives traffic to our warehouse stores, and we drive traffic to McLemore auction,” he said.

Janel Carr, who said she has been to all of the FH sales so far, is a true believer in the concept after buying assorted items including a reclining couch to match a love seat piece she bought at Costco. “I have a Costco membership, so I know what things cost and this place has lots of deals.”

Carr’s advice to prospective shoppers: “Come early and come often. You will see some definite bargains.”

Ms. Cheap gives FH a thumbs up, too! See you there!

Even though “FH” stands for Forest Hills, the sale location is off Elm Hill Pike in a warehouse at 1931 Air Lane Drive, Suite A, adjoining a big FedEx facility. The sales are biweekly from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Upcoming sales are set for Sept 10, Sept. 24 and Oct. 8. For details follow FH Liquidation on Facebook.

Mary Hance, who has four decades of journalism experience in the Nashville area, writes a weekly Ms. Cheap column. She also appears on Thursdays on Talk of the Town on NewsChannel5. Reach her at mscheap@mainstreetmediatn.com and follow her on Facebook as Facebook.com/mscheap

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