Ollie's Bargain Outlet — Local services in Penn Township

Just had an.. odd experience (for lack of a better term) at this Ollie’s. Our cashier, John, barely acknowledged my wife and I to begin with, and after an awkward silence he asked if we had an Ollie’s card; Wife: No, can we use yours? John: I don’t have one.... Me: No no she means like a store card. Do you have a store card? John: Employee discounts are for like, parents...

...what? Anyway, so we asked if we signed up today if we would save any money; John: I think you save 15%

So we get one, he gives us our total WITHOUT the savings, so we ask about it. John got flustered. Wife: Can you just type it in manually? John:No looks around but doesn’t ask anyone for help Me: Is today your 1st day? John: No I’m just not authorized to do that.

He asked the cashier in front of his register (she was with a customer too at this point) and I’m assuming she did not hear him bc she didn’t reply. So instead of asking the other employee that was standing behind him, he stood there. Again. Awkwardly silent. She finally answers; John: If they sign up for a reward card do they get 15% off their purchase today? Cashier: yeah John: It’s not coming off the total Cashier: you have to register first and then it’s 15% off your next purchase.

My wife and I were super annoyed at this point so I said I just would pay it so we could leave. I pay, John doesn’t say 2 words and hands the receipt to my wife. No “thank you” no “sorry about that” No NOTHING. Sorry for the long review, but I’m an assistant manager of a company that deals with customers constantly. If you don’t have the ability to smile and at least pretend you somewhat like your job, work somewhere without customer service. That whole checkout today...

Ollie's. Imagine a huge warehouse filled with buyouts and clearance "stuff" that most of the time you don't realize you need. Yeah, it's like that. You don't expect to walk in and spend $100, but sometimes you just do. Brand name stuff intermixed with no-name products that have a slight/moderate discount to the prices you'd find in other stores. But there's the rub: The stuff is generally "last year's model" or discontinued. Not that it's a bad thing, just not brand-stinkin' new. But the sheer quantity of stuff is pretty heavy. Also, unlike walking into a Wal-Mart expecting to find the same old, same old, Ollie's attempts to rotate just about everything. The only "standard items" are rugs/carpets and books. And even those change over time, usually because they're bought out. We almost always have a few things we buy just for kicks and grins, but generally helpful household items and expendables. A good time for most people, especially those on a tight to moderate budget....

I'm really shocked that this store can afford to stay open and pay it's lighting bill. BUT, they also save a lot of money by not having air conditioning. We stopped in here the other day and it was absolutely sweltering inside this store. It was apparent that the employees were doing their best to not physically exert themselves because they seemed to gather in small clusters throughout the store to chat and tell funny stories, or stand alone while using their cellphone. This store appears to be over stuffed with bottom line low quality merchandise that no one in their right mind would actually use their own hard earned money that they worked for to purchase any of this stuff and take into their own home. That was evidenced by the lack of customers. We spent approximately 45 minutes in this store perusing all the aisles, and in that time we only saw 2 two other customers inside the store, both of which were carrying no merchandise...