Big Lots Stores, Inc. (stylized as Big Lots!) is an American discount retail chain, specializing in the sale of closeout and

overstock Overstock, excessive stock, or excess inventory arise when there is more than the "right quantity" of goods available for sale,Crandall, R. E. and Crandall, W. R.Managing Excess Inventories: A Life-Cycle Approach in ''The Academy of Management Exe ...

merchandise. Founded in 1967 as Consolidated Stores, the chain is headquartered in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, and includes over 900 locations across the United States. Big Lots filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in October 2024, and later in December, the chain announced that it would cease operations, liquidate, and close all remaining stores. Liquidation sales began in December 2024, and all stores were expected to close in 2025. On December 28, 2024, Big Lots reached an agreement with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners to transfer 200–400 stores and one or two distribution centers to

Variety Wholesalers Variety Wholesalers, Inc., is a privately held company based in Henderson, North Carolina, which owns more than 380 retail stores in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic United States under the banners Roses and Maxway. The company employs more tha ...

, with the remaining stores to be permanently closed.

History

Early years

The Big Lots chain traces its history to 1967 when Consolidated Stores Corporation was formed in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

by Sol Shenk. In 1982, Consolidated Stores Corp. opened its first closeout store, called Odd Lots, in Columbus, Ohio. In 1983, drug store chain

Revco Revco Discount Drug Stores (known simply as Revco or Revco, D.S.), once based in Twinsburg, Ohio, was a major drug store chain operating through the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southeastern United States. The chain's stock w ...

bought

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

closeout retailer Odd Lot Trading Co. As Consolidated's Odd Lots stores expanded Revco was unhappy it that had a similar name as a subsidiary owned by Revco. Consolidated Stores Corp. agreed to limit its use of the Odd Lots name to stores located within a certain radius of Columbus. Beyond that radius, Consolidated began opening stores under the Big & Small Lots name. Eventually, all Odd Lots stores were rebranded as Big Lots. Consolidated Stores Corp. was an investor in the

DeLorean Motor Company The DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) was an American automobile manufacturer formed by automobile industry executive John DeLorean in 1975. It produced just one model, from early 1981 to late 1982—the stainless steel DeLorean sports car featur ...

, which declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 1982. Consolidated took possession of approximately 100 DeLorean models, then still at the factory in

Dunmurry Dunmurry (; ) is a suburb, suburban town and townland near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dunmurry is in the Collin (District Electoral Area), Collin electoral ward for the Local government in Northern Ireland, local government district of Belfast C ...

southwest of

Belfast, Northern Ireland Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

when the U.S. importer was unable to import them. The unusual excess inventory acquisition is commemorated on Big Lots website's "Closeout Museum" page. In 1985, Consolidated Stores Corp. began trading as a separate public company on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

. In 1986, Consolidated Stores Corp. switched to the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

, trading under the symbol CNS. In 1994, Consolidated Stores Corp. acquired Toy Liquidators, adding 82 stores in 38 states. Looking to expand further into the toy business, Consolidated Stores Corp. purchased

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wh ...

from

Melville Corporation Melville Corporation was a large retail holding company incorporated by Ward Melville in 1922 from Melville Shoe Company. Formerly based in Rye, New York, it became CVS Corporation in 1996 under a massive reorganization plan. The company trad ...

in 1996. Shortly afterward, Melville purchased Revco and folded it into the

CVS Pharmacy #REDIRECT CVS Pharmacy {{R from other capitalisation Company now has a new name to go along with it's anti-tobacco changes. New name is CVS Health ...

chain on its way to becoming

CVS Health CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the worl ...

, making the "Odd Lots" dispute moot. In 1998, Big Lots Inc. bought 'MacFrugals' (

Pic 'N' Save Pic 'N' Save Corporation (later MacFrugals) was at one time the second-largest closeout retail chain in the United States. Financial troubles caused the chain to close many stores in the late 1990s and early 2000s. History William Zimmerman fo ...

) stores for $995 million in stock, converting them to the Big Lots brand. In 2000, Consolidated Stores Corp. sold the

and Toy Liquidators lines to

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

. A year later, Consolidated Stores Corp. changed its name to ''Big Lots, Inc.'' and its ticker symbol from CNS to BLI. In the later part of 2005, Big Lots closed 170 stores, including all free-standing ''Big Lots Furniture'' specialty stores. On August 3, 2006, Big Lots announced that it would change its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol from BLI to BIG, beginning with trading activity on August 18, 2006.

2024 bankruptcy

In October 2023, CreditRiskMonitor reported that Big Lots was nearing a potential

filing. The company closed 52 stores in 2023. In July 2024, Big Lots announced the closure of 35 to 40 underperforming locations nationwide, blaming inflation and high rising costs as part of the decision. The company warned that it might not be able to survive the rest of 2024 and that a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing might be imminent; in the first quarter of 2024, net sales decreased 10.2% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Of the company's 1,400 stores nationwide, 144 stores were confirmed to be closing that month including one in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, the only one in the state. In a filing on July 31, 2024, Big Lots reported that it would close up to 315 stores. On August 28, 2024, Big Lots warned that they could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection within the coming weeks, blaming declining sales caused by rising interest rates as part of the decision. The company's stock sank 27% after the announcement. On September 9, 2024, Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with plans to sell itself to Nexus Capital Management. On December 19, 2024, Big Lots announced that it did not anticipate closing the sale to Nexus, and that the company would go out of business and close all of its 963 remaining stores. CEO Bruce Thorn said the company would continue "efforts to secure an alternative deal with Nexus or another party". On December 27, Big Lots reached an agreement with Gordon Brothers to transfer the operation of up to 400 stores and two distribution centres to Variety Wholesalers, who will retain the Big Lots name. 63 former Big Lots stores had been purchased by

Ollie's Bargain Outlet Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an American discount store chain. It was founded in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1982 by Morton Bernstein, Mark Butler, Harry Coverman, and Oliver "Ollie" Rosenberg, the company's namesake. , the chain has 558 locatio ...

by the end of February 2025. Variety Wholesalers kept the 222 Big Lots locations it purchased closed while it cleaned, remodeled, and re-stocked the stores in preparation for soft re-openings between April 10, 2025 and early June 2025. File:OddLotsBerwick.jpg, A store, Big Lots Store No. 1, was in Berwick Plaza Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio. The first store in the Big Lots chain was a former

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

store in the same shopping center. The store later moved to the former Buckeye Mart/Sarco building on Winchester Pike. File:Big Lots.jpg, A Big Lots in

Murrieta, California Murrieta is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The population of Murrieta was 110,949 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, ma ...

which was a former

File:Storeentrance.JPG, Entrance to a Big Lots in

Englewood, Colorado The City of Englewood is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 33,659 at the 2020 United States census. Englewood is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan S ...

(closed in 2023), which was a former Children's Palace File:Wal-Mart (Now Big Lots) Garner Station Raleigh, NC 2 (7849055496).jpg, Big Lots in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

(closed in 2024) File:BigLotsMansfieldTexas.jpg, Closing Big Lots in

Mansfield, Texas Mansfield is a suburban city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The city is located mostly in Tarrant County, with small parts in Ellis and Johnson counties. Its location is approximately 30 miles from Dalla ...

(November 2024)

Big Lots Wholesale

Big Lots operated a wholesale division which provided merchandise in bulk. It closed its wholesale division at the end of the 2013

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

. The retailer had conducted wholesale operations through Big Lots Wholesale, Consolidated International'','' and Wisconsin Toy for more than 34 years.

Big Lots Canada

On July 19, 2011, Big Lots announced that it had purchased Liquidation World Inc., a Canadian closeout retailer with 89 locations for $20 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. This is Big Lots' first retail venture outside of the US. The first Big Lots location in Canada opened in April 2013 in

Orillia, Ontario Orillia () is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km (18 mi) north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a sin ...

followed by Burlington,

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

, and

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

(all in Ontario as well). Big Lots exited the Canadian marketplace in 2014, citing poor sales.

References

External links

* *
Official website

Big Lots SEC Filings
{{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 American companies established in 1967 Retail companies established in 1967 Discount stores of the United States Toy retailers of the United States Variety stores 1967 establishments in Ohio 1980s initial public offerings