bargain basement

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

bargain basement (plural bargain basements)

1. An area within a retail store, especially an area located below ground level, where the least costly merchandise can be found.
   • 1922, Christopher Morley, chapter 6, in Where the Blue Begins:

     "Where will I find an aluminum cooking pot?" growled the elder Beagle unexpectedly.
     "In the Bargain Basement," said Gissing promptly.

   • 1949 April 11, “Business & Finance: Basement Bedlam”, in Time, retrieved 5 August 2013:

     To proper Bostonians . . . it was not quite a riot: it was merely the first big postwar men's-wear sale at Filene's bargain basement.

2. (attributively, often hyphenated) Inexpensive.
   • 1987 June 18, “Soviets to offer bargain-basement satellite launches”, in The Courier, Arizona, USA, retrieved 5 August 2013, page 3A:

     The Soviet Union is offering to send commercial satellites into orbit at bargain-basement prices.

   • 2007 January 19, Stephen Holden, “A Producer for All Seasons (Also Juggles)”, in New York Times, retrieved 5 August 2013:

     An ebullient woman aswirl in colorful layers of bargain-basement clothes and zany hats, Barbara Siegel also happens to be chairwoman of the Drama Desk nominating committee.

3. (idiomatic, attributively, often hyphenated) Of poor quality; of little or no value; low-end, shoddy.
   • 1965 July 30, “The Law: Police: Deputy Doe, B.A.”, in Time, retrieved 5 August 2013:

     "This nation can't afford bargain-basement cops any more," says Oregon's Multnomah County (Portland) Sheriff Donald Clark. . . . Almost everyone agrees that U.S. police sorely need more education.

   • 1984 March 27, “Democrats Stall Anti-crime Bill, Reagan Hints”, in Schenectady Gazette, retrieved 5 August 2013, page 12:

     "We are not going to ask the brave young men and women who defend this country to put their lives on the line using obsolete weapons and bargain-basement equipment."

• “bargain basement”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.