Posted: 1:00 am Mon, October 13, 2008
By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer
“The Fate of America” is on sale for 50 cents.
“Eugene McCarthy: the Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism” is going for $1.
Short stacks of these hardcover books sit in 90-percent-off bins at the C-Mart in Joppatowne, a twisted commentary on the economic predicament that the longtime discount retailer has found itself in as it empties its inventory to permanently close its doors Saturday.
“It’s really sad, it’s like the vultures are circling,” said Jen Synowczyski, 35, who got her first outfit from C-Mart when she was 8 years old.
Synowczyski and several other Monday morning shoppers at the disheveled-looking store said this was their third or fourth trip to C-Mart in the last week — when the Baltimore-area media began reporting the store was going out of business — and they planned on making more before closing day.
With four days to go, the 70,000-square-foot interior looks like a retail war zone in between battles.
Hangers are strewn on the floor, clothing racks and shoe isles are nearly empty, wall hooks that formerly supported picture frames and displays are barren, and Christmas ornaments, wall paper, knick-knacks and assorted clothing items are picked-through in flimsy cardboard bins. No music plays over the loudspeakers, and the only sounds to be heard are low conversations between shoppers, the whir of the cash registers and the wail of a small child by the checkout lines.
Nearly everything in the store is 90 percent off, which means not only are bargain shoppers out in force but the checkout lines are 15 to 20 shoppers deep, all with shopping carts stuffed. Many reported waiting 45 minutes to an hour Monday to pay but most said the savings were worth it. From $10 ski boots to $1.80 Michael Kors shoes, the savings are too good to pass up for many new and returning customers.
Synowczyski said she waited 2½ hours in line during the weekend but didn’t mind because she bought several suit jackets for about $2 each that she needed for a speaking engagement at a conference.
“I’m doing my Christmas shopping probably for the next few years this week,” said Patti Sue of Lutherville. She said she and her husband, both in their 50s, have been regular C-Mart shoppers for years.
Sue said she was saving her receipts to add up her total savings from C-Mart’s last week but she estimated she’ll have saved at least $1,000 off the retail value. But Sue and other regulars voiced their concerns about where they could find a discount replacement for C-Mart after this week.
“I don’t know,” said Sue. “Maybe I’ll search out a Filene’s Basement, but there’s really not another store like this one. It’s so eclectic and I like that — you never know what you’re going to get.”
C-Mart was established in Bel Air in the early 1970s when discount shopping was not as common as it is now, and relocated to Joppatowne in 2005. Under new ownership, a second location was opened in Landover in 2007. But that store was closed in March as the owners decided to focus on Web site sales. But then the economy took a turn for the worse, and not only did the new Web site idea die, but the store itself could not survive.
In late September, C-Mart workers began the liquidation sales.
To many at the store on Monday, C-Mart wasn’t just a local institution, it had been a part of their lives. Barb Tonge of Aberdeen said going to C-Mart’s old Bel Air location was a regular family outing when her kids were growing up. Tonge’s friend, Kathy Weiman of Parkville, said C-Mart holds a special place in her heart because her daughter found her prom dress there for 10 percent of what her friends were spending.
“I just heard about the closing and I couldn’t believe it,” Weiman said.
Rick Patton, Synowczyski’s boyfriend, said he’d been to C-Mart so often for his major purchases — like buying a $12,000 living room set for $4,000 — that he’d made friends with the employees over the years.
“It’s sad, really,” he said, sitting on perhaps the most eccentric piece left in C-Mart’s inventory — a carved, full-sized wooden pulpit marked down to $6,000. “I came here today to say goodbye to my friends. They’re all looking for jobs right now and they don’t know where they’re going to end up.”
Other shoppers, like Jeanne Peterson of Essex, who made out with a relatively light load of two shopping bags on Monday, said she stops by C-Mart once a month to browse but didn’t see its closing as anything that would make a significant difference to her shopping routine.
“It’s a loss, but times are changing,” she said.