City of Vaughan

Storefront

It’s a pretty innovative business idea: Take overstock and liquidation items from top retailers and fill a storefront with 40 bins. Then, every Friday evening, fill the bins with the new merchandise—housewares, electronics, clothing, you name it. When the doors open at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, deal hunters pile in—first come, first served—and search through each bin for coveted treasures, each one priced at just $20. Everything that doesn’t sell on day one is held over to Sunday and marked down to $15. Remaining items continue to be discounted throughout the week and whatever’s left come Friday is a cool buck-and-a-half. “Searching bins is fun and the daily deals you can find are amazing,” says Hamaideh, one of the co-founders of Top Binz. “With 16 to 18 pallets of overstock goods coming from the biggest retailers every week, there’s something for everyone. There are lineups every Saturday morning with treasure hunters looking for great buys. If you come to our store and find something very expensive for just $20, you’ll want to come back and see what else you can find.”

Staff

Hamaideh immigrated to Canada in 2012—he had been an electrical engineer in Qatar. After years of working in and out of his field, he connected with someone who runs businesses like Top Binz in the United States. He and a few friends-turned-business-partners liked the idea and decided to open the first store of its kind in the country. “We felt Vaughan was the right place for this opportunity. It’s very multicultural and we have customers from across the Greater Toronto Area who travel to see what’s in bins,” he says. The deals are endless—everything in the store is up for grabs. “There are kitchen accessories, footwear, linens, laptops and tablets, toys, jewellery—a huge variety. One shopper found a Canon camera that sells for $3,000 for $20. Another customer found a smartphone, iPad and laptop for the same price.” Items that last throughout the week and aren’t sold before the restock are donated. “It’s nice to give back. Every week we give two to three bags of merchandise to charity.”

Sales floor

Open for two years this winter, Top Binz is having a growth spurt: Two locations in Scarborough just opened. It’s an achievement for the founders, as is their participation in Vaughan’s My Main Street program. “A member of the Vaughan Business and Entrepreneurship Centre came to talk to us when we were new to the area, and we felt really supported. The grant we received allowed us to make improvements in our store and put money into advertising. It has definitely increased our customers,” he says, adding he also participated in the city’s Starter Company Plus program.

So far, Hamaideh says he’s learned a lot running the company and appreciates networking with associates, as well as his personal interactions with customers. “We like asking them what they’re looking for and what they want to purchase on any given day. It gives us lots of ideas of what to put in bins.”

topbinzco.com
1118 Centre Street, unit 25, Vaughan