Discount retailer is shutting 500 of its 1,400 stores: Here’s the full list

Big Lots has announced details of another 208 stores it plans to close as it enters bankruptcy.

The closures are spread across the country and are in addition to the 292 closures previously planned.

Stores are offering as much as 50 percent off bargains, causing a flood of shoppers looking for deals. About 140 have already closed for good.

In early September, the Columbus, Ohio-based chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after suffering major losses for years. It wants to save costs because it is looking for a new owner.

It means Big Lots will ultimately close more than a third of the 1,392 locations it had earlier this year.

Below is a map showing the locations of all 500. Scroll further down for a list.

Retail experts say Big Lots’ biggest problem is that it markets itself as a place for bargains, but is often more expensive than Walmart and Target.

After Big Lots filed for bankruptcy on September 11, it announced closures in batches — which is common.

The four sets of closures were filed with the bankruptcy court on September 20, 27 and October 4 and 11 – and affected 28, 58, 46 and 56 locations respectively.

Those who have just started the closing will receive a 20 percent discount, and for those near the end of the process it will be 50 percent.

Big Lots’ Chapter 11 filing is the latest among major U.S. retailers and restaurant chains, with the highest profile yet being Red Lobster.

A total of 21 bankruptcies filed in the first half of this year — the most since the pandemic wreaked havoc on businesses in 2020, S&P said in a July report.

Big Lots bosses hope to sell the business to private equity firm Nexus Capital after closing more stores in a bid to cut costs. They also need to reduce the enormous debt burden.

But several other retailers hoping to restructure this year ended up having to close their doors completely and sell their shares, including dollar store 99 Cents Only, home improvement chain LL Flooring and furniture retailer Conn’s.

Big Lots – which said in the summer it had “substantial doubts about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern” – has secured $707.5 million to keep it going.

Retail analyst Neil Saunders said bankruptcy was “the inevitable destination” for a chain that had posted 16 consecutive quarters of sales declines.

Saunders, head of retail at GlobalData, pointed to one key factor for customers turning away from Big Lots: It’s a bad, bad value, which “undermines the retailer’s key point of differentiation.”

The alarm bells went off in September Big Lots has postponed the release of its financial results – a highly unusual move

Rumors swirled last week that Big Lots was on the brink of bankruptcy after years of declining sales.

Nexus, as a so-called stalking horse bidder, will buy Big Lots if there is no better offer.

On Reddit, Big Lots store managers have complained that they are getting more and more stock that customers aren’t buying.

“In the past month we have received four of the largest trucks we have seen all year and triple the number we normally receive,” one person wrote.

‘The warehouse is almost full and nothing like that [it] sells.’

Another wrote: ‘Isn’t that the weirdest thing? So many things, but none of it is what people want.”

Discount home goods retailer Big Lots has filed for bankruptcy after years of declining sales and store closures (photo: a store closing in Manassas, Virginia)

The store sells furniture and home goods, in addition to toys, beauty products and groceries

Big Lots is known for its competitively priced items

Shoppers rush to closing stores to score bargains

The troubles for Big Lots come amid a widespread “retail apocalypse,” with stores struggling with consumer withdrawal and increasingly tight margins.

In the first four months of 2024, there were almost 2,600 store closures. If this trend continues, nearly 8,000 people will be lost by the end of the year.

Bargain stores such as Big Lots and dThe Ollar stores have been particularly hard hit.

For example, 99 Cents Only announced in April that it would close all 371 locations in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

Meanwhile, 1,000 stores are owned by Family Dollar and sister company Dollar Tree will close within the next three years.

In recent months, Walmart has also closed three more of its underperforming locations. Best Buy closed ten in March.

Additionally, Macy’s 150 is closing stores over the next three years – including the closure of 55 this year.

Drugstore Rite Aid has said it will close more than 800 stores after filing for bankruptcy. Most of these are in just two states – with customers looking for a new dispensary in Michigan and Ohio.