Columbus, Ohio — Top 100 retailer Big Lots announced a fifth round of closings on Oct. 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
In the filing, the Columbus, Ohio-based discounter revealed 56 more stores, pushing it to 553 total planned closures since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 9.
These closings add to store closings that the Columbus, Ohio-based discounter has previously identified as part of the ongoing bankruptcy process. An initial 344 stores were revealed on Sept. 11 with 49 added on Sept. 20, 58 on Sept. 27 and 46 on Oct. 4.
Of these closings, six are slated for Texas with four in California, Ohio and Washington with three in Virginia and Indiana. New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, Florida and Oklahoma each have two more stores closing with Nebraska, Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin and North Carolina to each lose one store in this round.
On Sept. 9, Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 protection, citing estimated assets of $1,000,000,001 to $10 billion against estimated liabilities of $1,000,000,001 to $10 billion to an estimated 5,001 to 10,000 creditors.
That same day, it announced a sales agreement with affiliates of Nexus Capital Management, subject to higher and better bids, as part of a court-supervised auction process. Nexus, designated as the stalking horse bidder for the auction, agreed to acquire the company’s assets and ongoing business operations. The agreed-to purchase price is approximately $760 million, consisting of $2.5 million in cash plus the debt payoff amount and the assumption of certain liabilities.