(Credit: Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Wayne Parry)Everything Must Go
Apart from the structure itself and anything with President Donald Trump’s name on it, everything else is up for grabs and is being sold as-is. The liquidation sale began on Thursday from 10am to 7pm, and will continue to run for 60 days with opening times 10am to 7pm on Monday through to Saturday, and 12pm to 5pm on Sunday.
After hours of queuing, the shuttered casino finally opened up at 10am on Thursday and hundreds of people swarmed inside looking to score big. This time, however, it wasn’t gamblers looking to hit the jackpots, but bargain hunters as well as long time patrons looking to take a piece of memento to remember the good old times they had at the Taj Mahal Establishment.
“I’m looking to get a barstool or two,” said Alberts. “I would love to have a chandelier. I just want something that would remind me of all the fun times we had here.”
Not everyone who queued up was let in at once. This was the reason some of the early birds started queuing up as early as 6am to make sure they get first dibs at whatever was on offer. Don Hayes of National Content Liquidators, the company running the sale, said “it’s a controlled public sale so we have a few people go in at a time. There will be lines inside and outside.”
National Content Liquidators purchased all of the unwanted contents from Hard Rock International, which bought the property for 4c on the dollar for a total of $50 million compared to the $1.2 billion that Trump had paid for it. It is completely up to the liquidators how much they charge for each item, but they did make sure to point out that there was no inflation at play just because Trump is now the president. This is primarily because all items marked with the Trump name were not for sale and were already moved off site.
Good Bargains
One of the most lavish pieces on sale were the crystal chandeliers from Austria that were hand-picked by Trump and his wife, Ivana. The 3 largest chandeliers installed above the main escalators were going for $35,000 a pop, a whopping discount compared to the $250,000 that was paid when new. The 7 smaller chandeliers cost $40,000 brand new, but now had an asking price of $7,500 a piece. While these are indeed a bargain, they were out of reach for most of the people looking for “cheaper” bargains. One particular individual was flying in from Texas just to look at these chandeliers with hope to use all of them throughout his house.
The more popular items on sale were the everyday items most people could use in their homes, such as the TVs, chairs, room furnishings etc. TVs were going for $50 each, chairs from $15-$25, clothes irons at $8, and bedside lamps at just $3.
“I have no use for chandeliers, but I can use a nice TV for my bedroom,” said Gerald Winchester, of Atlantic City. “I’ve been in so many rooms at this place that I probably already watched this TV.”
There were also plenty of unique ornaments and art pieces that would make for a nice centerpiece in any room in a house.
A few lucky individuals were able to get their hands on the very limited number of poker tables up for grabs. 9-person tables were going for $550 and 10-person tables for $650.
It’ll likely take weeks before everything is sold. After that, all remnants of the Trump’s Taj Mahal will be gone, and in its place will be the new music-related themed opened by Hard Rock in May 2018.
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