Every Marshalls shopper knows that you can find popular designer brands on the store's shelves at heavily discounted prices. If you're a real discount shopper, however, you know the biggest savings at this retailer come just twice a year. Every January and July, Marshalls holds a big yellow-tag sale to clear out inventory and make room for new items, marking down old products to their absolute lowest prices. But this past month, customers have noticed a concerning trend during the retailer's yellow-tag event. Read on to learn why they now claim Marshalls is selling "hazardous materials."
RELATED: 5 Warnings to Shoppers From Ex-Marshalls Employees.
A shopper claimed to find fungus on a Marshalls product.
On Jan. 25, a shopper named Jenny posted a TikTok video to her account @jennyy_sandoval, showing herself and another person browsing a Marshalls store's yellow-tag clearance.
"We were disappointed," she captioned the video.
In the TikTok, Jenny highlights problems with many of the beauty products that were marked with yellow tags. Some of the items were empty, used, or had clear health concerns.
"Fifty cents [for] a mask? Oh it has fungus," she says, while opening the top of a facial cream container to reveal brown and black spots on top of the product.
RELATED: Buying Designer at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls? Fashion Expert Urges Caution.
Some employees said they are forced to keep bad products on the floor.
TikTok/@jennyy_sandovalIn the video, Jenny and the other shopper also highlight sale items that don't work, are expired, or have been damaged. The explosive TikTok has earned over 4.4 million views in just one week.
In the comment section, current and former employees of TJX Companies (which is the parent company for Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and HomeGoods) claimed they were sometimes expected to keep bad products out on the floor.
"I worked at T.J. Maxx and one time we found an open lip balm with no package or tag on the ground, and my manager told me to put a price tag on it," one person replied.
Another commented, "When I worked at T.J. Maxx, I literally had to sneak and throw stuff away because my managers were forcing us to keep everything."
The reason for this? "I work at Marshalls, and my store manager's motto is always 'someone will buy it,'" a TikTok user explained.
Jenny shared a second video of her shopping Marshalls' yellow-tag clearance sale.
On Jan. 27, Jenny posted a follow-up TikTok video after shopping through more of the yellow tags at a Marshalls store. In the second part, she and her friend show hair serums that have been used, skincare supplement bottles that are missing their tops, makeup palettes that are empty, and earrings that are missing one in the pair.
"No, wait this is my favorite, [just] a dollar?" one of the shoppers says while grabbing a Brazilian Bliss body butter container on the shelf. But once she opens it, she's disappointed yet again to find a nearly empty product.
Some say shoppers should be suing.
TikTok/@jennyy_sandovalJenny's second video has already blown up on TikTok as well, garnering over 1.1 million views in five days. From the comments, it's clear this is a regular Marshalls experience that frustrates more than a few shoppers.
"This is how Marshalls is every time I go and look at the clearance. It's ridiculous," one user replied.
Another person commented, "You will never find clearance items that ain't busted."
But while some shoppers were simply joking about how annoying this can be in the comment section, others pointed out that it should be a major concern for the retailer and those shopping there.
"Every customer should be suing Marshalls for this," one user wrote in this response. "Both a biohazard (with open and used makeup for sale) and hazardous materials (chemical materials opened and used for sale)."
Best Life reached out to Marshalls about these concerns, and we will update this story with its response.
