Liquidation sales are almost always crappy. The Consumerist writes about them often -- liquidators often start by jacking up prices to MSRP, and start with discounts that are not much different than everyday sales (and sometimes still higher than the prices offered by competitors for similar or same merchandise). The modus operandi of typical liquidation sales is not unique to Target. When Linen'N'Things went bankrupt, their liquidation sale was notorious for offering terrible bargains. The fact that liquidators draw in consumers at the beginning with promises of 30% off, when very few products have been discounted that much (and some products are almost always priced higher than they have been in the recent past), rightfully makes consumers mad, but again that is common practice and not unique to Target.
Having said that, Canadians are not being unreasonable when they say that the whole Target experience in this country has been crappy. And the fact that Target's liquidation sale is also crappy, while not being an unusual circumstance, is just icing on the cake, and it's not unreasonable to make Target wear that as well. Target's liquidation sale is as disappointing as everything else it did in this country, and they are as much to blame for this craptastic ending as they are for everything else. There is only one party to blame for the fact that Target stores in Canada are today plastered in tacky yellow signs, staffed by demoralized workers and full of disappointed customers -- and that's Target.
