Bargain hunters can't get over Overstock.com

SALT LAKE CITY — They form a line behind a nondescript glass door at the west-side warehouse. Normally it extends about half the length of a football field, but this day's combination of temperatures in the upper 30s and an intermittent sprinkling rain reduces their numbers by about one third.

The crowd of 130 or so are dressed in varying degrees of Saturday morning repose — all awaiting their chance to bag a bargain. The earliest arrivals begin claiming their places shortly before 9 a.m. On balmier days, it's not unusual seeing some lining up a full hour earlier.

Beverly Hills may have Rodeo Drive, Chicago its Magnificent Mile, but Salt Lake City has its Overstock.com Liquidation Store, where every Saturday morning is like Black Friday.

Toward the front of the line, Grace and Ronn Gibb are braving the elements wanting to upgrade some furniture. Grace Gibb tells how they've reached a point after 17 years of marriage that they finally have the financial wherewithal to rid themselves of several hand-me-downs currently cluttering their home.

"That's the beauty of this place," explains Grace, who is making her third visit to the liquidation store. "To go seek and conquer." Husband Ronn Gibb sees the couple's division of duties a bit more mundanely. "She grabs it, I guard it," he said.

Friends Jon Grover, Nate Bagley, Megan Mansfield and Jon Sanderson have elected to bargain hunt in a pack to maximize efficiency and make it easier to protect their loot from in-store poaching, accidental or otherwise.

Like the Gibbs, they're also eyeing furniture and home décor items needed to fill a trio of new homes they have individually purchased recently in response to the just-expired federal tax credits for homebuyers. Bagley said seeing their new home "devoid of furniture" prompted him to help out roommate Grover. "Every super shopper needs to have a super sidekick," he jokes.

This is Grover's second trip to the liquidation store. He's hoping for a repeat performance of his first visit a week earlier when he was able to purchase three chairs, a table and a brand-new, still-in-the box Dyson vacuum, all for under $500.

At T-minus 34 minutes, the store's unofficial ambassador of good cheer, employee Kenny Anderson, briefs the throng on the store's rules of the road. Despite having only been on the job since November, Anderson's infectious, positive and seemingly boundless energy have made him a store icon.