Big Lots closing nearly 150 stores amid its current struggles
Big Lots Inc. is closing more stores than it initially announced.
The Columbus-retailer this summer said it expected to shutter between 35 and 40 stores this year while only opening three new locations.
But the tally of closings on Big Lots' website is higher than that with 142 locations around the country currently listed as closing.
Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) has 1,389 stores in 48 states at the moment, so the closings represent about 10% of its physical footprint.
Stores in 28 different states are in the process of being shuttered. California is the hardest hit with 53 stores listed as closing.
California is Big Lots' second biggest state by store count with 109 locations before those closings.
Texas has the most Big Lots stores with 116 locations, none of which are closing. The home state of Ohio also remains unimpacted by the round of closings. The 102 stores in Ohio – including 17 in Central Ohio – all are remaining open at this time.
Big Lots did close its 1245 Polaris Parkway store in January. That space is set to become one of the market’s first Bob’s Discount Furniture stores. That Massachusetts-based retailer also is opening a store in Pickerington.
After the big cut in California, the next most impacted states are Arizona, which is losing 13 stores; Washington, which will see 12 closings; and Florida where 11 are closing.
Though Big Lots’ business set company records during the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 as home-bound consumers invested in their domiciles and stocked up on food and home goods, the company has struggled in the past several years.
In fiscal year 2023, according to Columbus Business First research, the company posted the largest net loss of any public company headquartered in Central Ohio – reporting a $481.88 million deficit. That more than doubled its $210.7 million loss the year prior.
In its first quarter this year, net sales fell $114.5 million, or 10.2%. It also reported a $205 million loss. It lost $206 million in the first quarter last year.
In the company's quarterly report filed in June, it concluded there is a "significant likelihood" it won't be able to pay its debt within the next year, raising "substantial doubt" about its "ability to continue."
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