Columbus, Ohio — Top 50 retailer Big Lots looks to be trimming its store count by around 10%.
The based discounter, which had 1,392 stores in 2023, appears to be closing 142 of its currently listed 1,389 stores — or 10.2% — according to searchable information found on the company’s website. The information was first aggregated late last week on a Big Lots-related Reddit page, and Furniture Today cross-checked and verified each of those listed closings by visiting the individual store pages on Big Lots’ website.
On the site, a banner appears that says “Closing This Location/Save Up To 20% Off” on the page for each store that is closing. The stores unaffected by the closings have a different banner on their pages.
While the closings listed on the site are located throughout the country, several are concentrated in the Western U.S.: California is slated to lose 54 of its 109 stores, while Arizona has 13 listed closures, including five of six Phoenix locations. In Washington, 12 of 26 stores are shown as closing. Elsewhere, Florida had 10 of its 106 stores listed as closing, while five stores are closing in Wisconsin and four each in Colorado and Michigan.
In a June filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Big Lots indicated that it expected to close 30 to 40 stores in 2024, and it expressed doubts about its ability to continue as an ongoing concern due to a combination of lagging sales and increasing debt load.
HTT sister publication Furniture Today, which reported this story, has reached out to Big Lots for comment. This story will be updated.