Didn't this go the Sears way?
CEO sold off the land the stores sat on. To himself. Stores struggle to pay rent to new CEO. CEO laughs all the way to the bank. They close. CEO moves onto next unlucky company. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I don't think Big Lots had much real estate.
Their story is just one of "Why should I go there, you don't have anything unique anymore." The shitty economy isn't helping, and neither did their spending a lot of money to purchase Broyhill.
They have a decent selection of budget furniture. Other than that, I can't think of any reason to go there vs Walmart.
I remember when they used to run the Odd Lots stores and those were fun. They had interesting stuff, you never knew what you were going to find, kind of like going to a garage sale. That was when I was a kid and we mostly went there to steal cans of starter fluid to throw into bonfires at parties, but it was fun to look around as well.
Same, there's no reason to go there nowdays.
I just bought some furniture from there because it was inexpensive, and I took a floor model which was basically pennies on the dollar.
Other than that? I go there once in a while because no one else is there and I can get in and out.