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This is We

(Us has been taken)

New and used is the game, Bid and Buy is their name. In the summer of 2018, founder Jennifer Lanzetti started the journey of leaving the construction industry, after spending 25+ years building a better world. She started as a rough carpenter at the age of 16 and eventually owned her own construction firm that she sold in 2018. While pondering her next career, she was also shopping for all the things she needed to add another baby to her family. It was then that the idea of Bid & Buy started. As she was searching for great deals on name-brand, trusted products she realized there had to be a better way for people to save money without wasting hours scouring the internet. Knowing how busy she was as a mom of two, she knew shopping at four different stores both online and in person could not be the answer to getting the best deals.
Bid & Buy opened for "official business" in January of 2019. Navigating the online retail world took a minute, and so did the major remodel of their space. She chose a vacant 2,500 SF area located in the Ivy Place Shopping Center in Murray, Utah. It was 2 minutes from her house and perfect. Of course back then she did not know she needed 15,000 square feet to realize her discount store dream. With the mission at the top of her mind and a lot of positive energy buzzing around her, Jennifer persevered even when COVID hit the world like a meteor a few months later. By the time the remodel was finished, and the online store was up and running, the cute discount boutique still opened its doors in the summer of 2020 despite the international pandemic underway.
Some probably thought that starting a new retail business when most people were working from home, and hardly ever leaving their homes, was a terrible idea. But in Jennifer's mind, she thought this was the exact business the world needed. A place they could get their essentials, as well as gifts and desires, for less than retail. She knew this was the type of business that needed to be showing up for people. A business that helps everyone maintain some normalcy in their lifestyle and habits, since so many things are changing rapidly.
When asked why she keeps her doors open, when many small businesses are closing, she said "We are creatures of habit, and from my experience there is only so much disruption us humans can deal with every day. We have all been living according to a certain status quo for a long, long time. Our lifestyles were imprinted heavily before COVID. Maybe buying shampoo, toothpaste, new back-to-school clothes, and a coffee maker for less than $100 seems inconsequential to the big picture and major trauma happening in the world; but I think every act of kindness and every great deal people find, makes the challenges we are all facing a little more tolerable."
Along with finding deals the Bid & Buy team is growing.  They are inviting investors to consider their proposal to have a Bid & Buy store in every major city. Along with selling discounted goods, Bid & Buy also: 1) helps distressed businesses liquidate their inventory quickly with online auctions, 2) runs estate auctions online to alleviate burden for estate holders, and 3) they support their local community artists by giving them store space for their creations and selling their goods on consignment. 
Although COVID has disrupted the world, and buyers are drastically different than three years ago, a good deal is a good deal. That never goes out of style and is always trending.

Our Why's

"With Bid & Buy you will pay less than, but never feel less than.​" ~ Founder, Jennifer Lanzetti

In light of the civil unrest and heart-breaking events that have devoured 2020, we want to shine a light on the positive ways people are making changes to support equality. How does a clothing store help equality? Can a retail store help bring more equality to our nation? Bid and Buy was born, over and over again, throughout my childhood. It was born every time I went to the store with my mom or dad shopping for school clothes, groceries, and household needs. We did not shop at the mall, like my friends or the cool kids at school. We shopped at thrift stores and flea markets. When it came time for school dances, we looked in the classifieds. School supplies were off-brand things that broke all the time. There was always something breaking in our house, because the nice stuff was expensive and money did not grow on trees. In second grade I had to get glasses, which to any child is frightening, "What will the other kids think?" I wore thick, ugly, pink and purple glasses for years, because the nice thin lenses with the stylish frames were "a waste of money." I love my parents and I know they both worked hard. My brother and I did our best to never let our disappointment show because we did not want to hurt their feelings. Our parents did the best they could with what they had. This is not a story about an ungrateful child who wanted nothing but the best and was never satisfied. I was happy for the clothes we bought on the border of Mexico instead of shopping at Dillards. I was happy to get a used bike because I wanted to ride with the wind. I was happy to eat Top Ramen for dinner because regardless what it costs, Top Ramen tasted good. But usually I was happy because shopping meant spending time with my family. I was happy with the glasses that made me look like my eyes were golf balls, because I could see far distances again. Home was a safe place to be in poverty. When I left the safety of home, that is when I experienced shame. It felt shame with every laugh because of the way I looked, every insult about the clothes I wore, and every shove because I was a nobody with coke-bottle glasses. As hard as I have tried to forget some of these experiences, certain stories will always be with me. Like sitting on the bus stairs all the way to school because no one would scoot over and share their seat with me. It was cold on the bus stairs, and dirty.   Bid and Buy is for all the kids that understand too soon that people can be cruel and judge on superficial things like looks or what someone may or may not have. Look at the news. To this day people are being judged by the color of their skin! So many things that are beyond our control cause harsh judgement from others. We cannot change all the wrongs in one day, but Bid and Buy is committed to doing what it can, one purchase at a time. Bid and Buy is for all the parents that work really hard, but cannot afford to buy things that give their kids confidence equivalent to that of their peers. Bid and Buy is for everyone that wants to own nice things that don't break after five uses. Bid and Buy is for people who work hard and deserve the best at a price that is fair. Bid and Buy sources the best name brands at the lowest prices, so we can pass those savings onto you. At Bid and Buy you pay less than, but you never feel less than.

Justice for Our Rock

Another why behind Bid and Buy is justice. The ascension team at Bid and Buy believes in the Abundance Theory. The cliff note version of this is if you align your thoughts and feelings with positiveness and opportunity, you can begin attracting abundance in your own life. We want to make abundance easier for as many as we can, but we have another view on the justice of abundance. Believing in abundance is a personal choice, but just because we believe in abundance we do not think that anyone should be allowed to throw away perfectly good resources. Through our journey of creating Bid and Buy, we learned that many large corporations are throwing away millions of brand new merchandise daily. We like to re-purpose things and pass on good deals we find, so we are always on the hunt. One day while we visited a large, national hardware store we offered to buy all of the left-over Christmas decorations. We asked when the next mark-down day would be and they said "never". "We will throw everything away before we mark down the price further." We were shocked. Logically we understand the reasons behind this. They don't want to sell it so cheap that they will later be competing with themselves. The tax benefit they receive for the loss, is greater than the income gain they receive selling it at a reduced price. The liability burden is not enough to take on at a certain price point. All of these reasons provide a motive, but they do not provide an excuse good enough to justify throwing away resources that have been harvested and manufactured for a purpose. We hear about landfills that are overflowing, rainforests on the brink of disappearing, and thousands of kids left hungry every day. To just name a few reasons to not waste. So why are companies benefiting from throwing things away? We may not be educated on all the exact mechanisms behind the scenes, but we know that the laws need to change if being wasteful is rewarded. Even if these corporations and businesses do not sell their items at a reduced price, non-profit organizations are a perfect place for these products to be donated to. We will make a difference in this business practice and hope you join us in making this change.

 

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