Buying Liquidation Pallets in Los Angeles: The Definitive Guide

2022-03-23

Buying liquidation pallets to resell is an inexpensive way to start a business. Our guide to buying liquidation pallets in Los Angeles will explain what liquidation pallets are, where you can buy liquidation pallets in Los Angeles and give you useful information about the market for liquidation merchandise in the city.

Why Start a Business in Los Angeles?

A large market: 18 million residents and 50 million yearly visitors.
Huge demographic diversity.
Many funding opportunities for small businesses.
Excellent access to national and international markets – a very well-connected region: 6 commercial airports, 3 seaports, 2 rail carriers and a hub for national highways.
There is a well-developed network of development centers for small businesses.
Los Angeles is surprisingly competitive cost-wise in terms of small business overheads.

Source: Discover Los Angeles, 2021.

The Market for Discount Merchandise in Los Angeles

There are 88 cities in Los Angeles County with a combined market of more than 18.8 million people. This is an enormous market for any local business to tap into. The pandemic has hit the area hard – More than 40 major retailers declared bankruptcy and more than 11,000 stores closed in 2020 in Los Angeles. More have closed in the years since, leading to an abundance of closeout merchandise in the area. Over 7500 businesses (many in multiple locations) have permanently closed, with the loss of over 400,000 jobs in LA County since the beginning of the pandemic, of these the greatest hit communities are the low-income minorities.

On top of these job losses, the Los Angeles area suffers from one of the nation’s worst income inequalities. While there are many high-income earners, especially in the tech and entertainment sectors, there is also an enormous low-skilled population working in restaurants, hotels, janitorial services and back offices.

In Los Angeles, between 1980 and 2015, inflation-adjusted pay rose by just 3% for those in the bottom 10%. LA was once an enormous manufacturing center. But since 1990, manufacturing jobs have dropped from about 850,000 to 350,000.

There are high levels of poverty in South Los Angeles as well as in parts of Boyle Heights, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, Northeast Los Angeles, and areas around the Port of Los Angeles. 89% of areas with concentrated levels of poverty are located near Downtown and in South Los Angeles, with some also in the Valley and Harbor areas. These areas are best suited to discount stores.

As well as the permanent population, Los Angeles hosts around 50 million visitors per year. A staggering number of potential customers:

Visitors to Los Angeles by the numbers:

Total Visitors to Los Angeles County 50 million
Domestic Visitors 42.5 million
International Visitors 7.5 million
Total Visitor Direct Spending $23.9 billion
Total Economic Impact $36.6 billion

As you can see, Los Angeles is a great location to start a business, and in particular a discount merchandise business. So how can you stock such a business with liquidation merchandise, and where can you buy it?

What are Liquidation Pallets

Retailers have to deal with surplus merchandise for numerous reasons. This surplus stock can be categorised into three main types:

Customer Returns

Customers return items are purchases made in store or online that have been returned to the retailer. This merchandise is palletized by the retailer and sold through liquidation channels by the pallet or truckload.

Overstock

Overstock is merchandise that hasn’t sold and needs to be liquidated to make room for other products. Overstock is in ‘brand-new’ condition. Often, you will find overstock merchandise in the form of seasonal products, especially clothing, that are liquidated at the end of the season.

Closeouts

Closeouts represent surplus stock from stores that are closing or being renovated. As such, overstock merchandise is also in brand-new condition.

Source: Discover Los Angeles, 2021.

Top Flea Markets and Swap Meets in Los Angeles

Flea markets and swap meets are ideal for selling discounted merchandise. Luckily, Los Angeles has a thriving community of these meets, spread throughout the area. We’ve listed some of the largest here:

Los Angeles City College Swap Meet

4133 Marathon St, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Website | 1 562-921-4359

North Hollywood Swap Meet

7355 Lankershim Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91605
Website | 1 818-765-8244

Bonito’s Swap Meet
Facebook Page | 1 213-483-2554

Melrose Trading Post

7850 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Website | 1 323-205-5375

Silverlake Flea

1925 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Website | 1 323-467-0623

Venice Antiques & Collectibles Flea Market

13000 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website | 1 424-272-0361

Rose Bowl Flea Market

1001 Rose Bowl Dr, Pasadena, CA 91103
Website | 1 323-560-7469

Nothing But B.L.K. Flea Market

4050 Marlton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90008
Website

Los Feliz Flea

3939 Tracy St, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Website | 1 323-423-3208

Alpine Village Swap Meet

20613-20669 Hamilton Ave, Torrance, CA 90502
Website | 1 323-637-5850

Harbor College Swap Meet

1111 Figueroa Pl, Wilmington, CA 90744
Website | 1 310-835-5351

El Faro Plaza

4433 S Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90058
Website | 1 323-234-2700

Hollywood Artisans Market

1715 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Website | 1 323-924-1100

Topanga Vintage Market

Victory Blvd at, Mason Ave, Winnetka, CA 91306
Website | 1 310-422-1844

LACC SWAP

4133 Marathon St, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Website | 1 323-423-3476

HIVE Market

1715 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Website

Where to Buy Liquidation Pallets in Las Vegas

Source: USA Today, 2021.

Los Angeles County is the largest manufacturing center in the nation for apparel, making the area a prime location to source pallets and truckloads of clothing in particular. On top of this, LA is a regional distribution center for many major retailers and is the largest import destination in the country for merchandise produced in the far east.

To access some of the top surplus merchandise in this huge regional hub, here are some of the best sources for liquidation pallets in Los Angeles:

Direct Liquidation
13225 Marquardt Ave., Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

All Wholesale
5625 Firestone Blvd Unit D17, South Gate, CA 90280

Warehouse Pallets
4529 San Fernando Rd Unit A, Glendale, CA 91204

LA Center Closeout

5502 Alcoa Ave, Vernon, CA 90058

Pacas Y Paletas USA Inc

1600 S Santa Fe Ave E, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Bulldog Liquidators

9525 De Soto Ave, Chatsworth, CA 91311

CORNER 123

1329 B Los Angeles St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

A & D Wholesale Vintage Clothing LLC

3501 Union Pacific Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90023

LA Closeout Inc.

5526 S Soto St, Vernon, CA 90058

California Closeouts & Liquidations

6300 Chalet Dr, Commerce, CA 90040

Jts Merchandise Outlet

9511 Ann St, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

Steal Deal Inc.

5716 Alba St, Los Angeles, CA 90058

4U Enterprises

5625 Firestone Blvd, South Gate, CA 90280

Four Seasons General Merchandise

2801 E Vernon Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90058

Supreme Liquidators Inc

15020 Proctor Ave, City of Industry, CA 91746

Yanez Liquidators

5958 Whittier Blvd, East Los Angeles, CA 90022

LA Vintage

13003 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90061

Torgom Wholesale Vintage Clothing Co.

5175 S Soto St, Vernon, CA 90058

Storage in Los Angeles

Source: Move.org, Neighbor.com, 2022.

You will need space to store the liquidation pallets you buy. You might choose to use space in your own home, like a garage. However, to buy merchandise in larger quantities you will need to rent storage space, which is relatively inexpensive in Los Angeles.

The average storage unit in Los Angeles is 10’x20’ and costs $249 per month. This is lower than the US average for a unit this size, at $290. We have listed 5 of the most affordable storage locations in the city:

US Storage Centers

4800 Valley Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90032 https://www.usstoragecenters.com/storage-units/ca/los-angeles/12700-braddock-dr

Pricing

5’x5’: $60.75 /month

10’x10’: $193.75 /month

10’x20’: $331.75 /month

Los Angeles Self Storage

1000 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
https://www.smartselfstorage.com/self-storage/ca/los-angeles/los-angeles-self-storage

Pricing

5’x5’: $107 /month

10’x10’: $245 /month

10’x20’: $436 /month

Downtown Mini-Warehouse

1050 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015
https://www.smartselfstorage.com/self-storage/ca/los-angeles/los-angeles-self-storage

Pricing

5’x5’: $120 /month

10’x10’: $280 /month

10’x20’: $400 /month

StorQuest Self Storage

1000 N Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 https://www.storquest.com/self-storage/ca/los-angeles/9131/

Pricing

5’x5’: $135 /month

10’x10’: $209 /month

10’x20’: $298 /month

South Gate Self Storage

2405 Southern Ave, South Gate, CA 90280 https://www.rentrhms.com/self-storage-south-gate-ca-f3155

Pricing

5’x5’: $145 /month

10’x10’: $279 /month

10’x20’: $430 /month

Buying liquidation pallets in Los Angeles to resell for profit can be a viable business.

Los Angeles has lower than average storage costs and a market of millions of people. While the average income per household is above average, there are plenty of areas within Los Angeles with below-average per household income, which favors discount stores and goods. There is also a great availability of liquidation pallets for sale in Los Angeles.