What else are they supposed to do with merchandise they can't sell? They only have so much room to store things. That is why you can sometimes find incredible bargains...you only have to "outbid" the dumpster.

If the quantity is large enough, they can unload it to a "liquidator", these guys buy it by the ton and sell it by the piece. That is how you can sometimes find stuff really cheap there, and the store still makes out like a bandit since they got it for practically nothing.