San Diego-area Big Lots stores among 300 to close as chain files for bankruptcy

(NEXSTAR) — After putting “closing soon” banners on roughly 300 of its stores this summer, retailer Big Lots has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection .

Leaders of the Ohio-based company warned earlier this year that inflation and troubles competing with other retailers had cast “substantial doubt” on Big Lots’ ability to continue . It quickly prompted speculation that Big Lots would file for bankruptcy, and those opinions were only heightened when the company postponed its second-quarter earnings call from September 6 to this coming Thursday.

Early Monday morning, Big Lots announced plans to sell assets and business operations to Nexus Capital Management, a private equity firm.

Big Lots also laid out plans to close roughly 250 additional stores by mid-January 2025. That’s on top of the nearly 300 stores that are already on track to close in the coming months, including four San Diego County stores: El Cajon, La Mesa, Oceanside and Spring Valley.

While it’s unclear where exactly those additional stores will be, we do know the few hundred that have started to shut down. These stores, since at least early August, have had banners across their web pages that read “closing this location.”

According to an analysis of Big Lots’s 1,389 locations, no additional stores have had such banners added to their sites as of Monday morning. Some, however, have been updated to alert customers that they could save from 30% to 50% in-store — that’s up from the 20% advertised in August .

Below is a list of stores Big Lots had already set for closure, confirmed in July or August this year.

• Alabama : Bessemer, Huntsville (Northwest Westside Centre), Prattville, Sylacauga, Troy
• Arizona : Flagstaff , Gilbert, Glendale, Green Valley (Sahuarita), Laveen, Mesa, East Mesa, Payson, Peoria , Phoenix (Ray Road, 75th Avenue, Bell Road, West Bethany Road, East Bell Road), Prescott, Scottsdale, Tempe, Tucson (North Oracle Road, West Ina Road and Davis Monthan Air Force Base), Northeast Tucson
• Arkansas : Fayetteville
• California : Anaheim Hills, West Anaheim, Atascadero, Atwater, Bakersfield (Oil Junction and East Hills), Beaumont, Camarillo, Santa Clarita, Ceres, Chico, Chino, Concord, Corona, Culver City, Delano, El Cajon, Elk Grove, Fairfield, Folsom, Fontana, Freedom (Watsonville), Fresno (West Shaw Avenue, Kings Canyon Road, and Northgate Shopping Center), Gardena, Gilroy, Hercules, Indio, La Habra, La Mesa, Livermore, Lodi, Lompoc, Long Beach, Los Banos, Manteca, Merced, Milpitas, Mission Viejo, Modesto (Salida), North Highlands, Oceanside, Ontario, Oroville, Paradise, Placerville, Rancho Santa Margarita, Redlands, Riverside (Canyon Springs Parkway), Rohnert Park, Sacramento (La Riviera Drive and Valley Hi Drive), Salinas, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Santa Maria, Santa Paula, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Spring Valley, Stockton, Temecula, Torrance, Tracy, Turlock, Ukiah, Vacaville, Victorville, Visalia, South Whittier, Woodland, Yuba City, Yucca Valley
• Colorado : Aurora (South Parker Road), Colorado Springs (North Academy Boulevard, South Academy Boulevard, and New Center Point), Grand Junction, Greeley, Littleton, Longmont
• Connecticut : Manchester, Milford, Newington, New Milford, Norwich, Torrington, Waterbury, Waterford, Windsor
• Florida : Boca Raton, Bonita Springs, Boynton Beach, Bradenton, Clewiston, Coconut Creek, Daytona Beach, Destin, Fort Myers (McGregor Boulevard), Hallandale, Hollywood, Miami (Fontainebleau), Miami Lakes, South Naples, Orange Park, Orlando (South Semoran Boulevard, Waterbridge Downs, Waterbridge Downs, and Union Park), Plantation, Pompano Beach, Port Richey, Royal Palm Beach, Sarasota (South Gate Ridge), Stuart, Tampa (Citrus Plaza Drive), Tarpon Springs
• Georgia : Decatur, Fayetteville, Roswell, Savannah, Stockbridge, Stone Mountain, Thomson, Waynesboro
• Illinois : Burbank, Calumet City, Centralia, Crest Hill, Elgin, Fairview Heights, Lockport, Niles, Oakbrook Terrace
• Indiana : Elkhart, Fort Wayne (Jefferson Pointe), North Indianapolis, Kokomo, Warsaw
• Kansas : Kansas City and Salina
• Kentucky : Henderson, Lexington (Hamburg Pavilion), and Louisville (Poplar Level Road)
• Louisiana : Bossier City, Denham Springs, Lafayette, Natchitoches
• Maine : Portland
• Maryland : Bowie, Glen Burnie North, Laurel, Lexington Park, Reisterstown
• Massachusetts : Ashland, Dennis Port, Northampton, Seekonk, West Springfield
• Michigan : Big Rapids, Coldwater, Holland, Howell, Lansing, Kentwood, Madison Heights, Okemos, Petoskey, Portage, Ypsilanti
• Minnesota : Albert Lea
• Missouri : Independence, Jefferson City, Kansas City (Washington Street), Saint Joseph, Saint Louis (Christy Boulevard and Lemay Ferry Road)
• Montana : Great Falls and Helena
• Nevada : North Las Vegas
• New Hampshire : Claremont
• New Jersey : Woodbridge
• New York : Buffalo (Sloan and Linden Corners), Canandaigua, Carle Place, Centereach, Ithaca, New Hartford, Plattsburgh, Poughkeepsie, Queensbury
• North Carolina : Charlotte (Pineville and Newell), Durham (Southwest Durham Drive and Avondale Drive), Jefferson, Raleigh (Glenwood Avenue and Garner Station Boulevard)
• Ohio : Cincinnati (Springdale and Colerain Avenue), Centerville, Defiance, Saint Marys, Sandusky, Springdale, Toledo (Hopewell Heights), West Chester
• Oregon : Albany, Beaverton, Eugene, Grants Pass, Gresham, North Bend, Milwaukie, Salem
• Pennsylvania : Clifton Heights, Coraopolis, Exton, Franklin Mills, Kennett Square, Philadelphia (Franklin Mills), East York
• South Carolina : Aiken, Chester, Newberry
• South Dakota : Rapid City
• Tennessee : Franklin, Madison, Union City
• Utah : American Fork, Murray, Layton, Logan
• Vermont : Barre and Rutland
• Virginia : Charlottesville, Fredericksburg (Warrenton Road), Lynchburg (Wards Road), Manassas, Norfolk (East Virginia Beach Boulevard), North Chesterfield (Richmond), Virginia Beach (General Booth Boulevard), Woodbridge
• Washington : Bellingham, Burien, Covington, Everett, Kent, Lacey, Lakewood, Lynnwood, Olympia, Port Angeles, Port Orchard, Puyallup, Renton, Richland, Spokane, Tacoma (72nd Street), Vancouver (SE 164th Avenue), Wenatchee
• Wisconsin : Fond du Lac, La Crosse, Menomonee Falls, Mount Pleasant, Neenah, Sheboygan, West Bend
• Wyoming : Cheyenne

As of Monday, a Nexstar analysis continued to show that there are no stores currently set to close in Delaware , Idaho , Iowa , Mississippi , Nebraska , New Mexico , North Dakota , Oklahoma , Rhode Island , Texas or West Virginia .

In a press release Monday, Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said that while “the majority of our store locations are profitable, we intend to move forward with a more focused footprint to ensure that we operate efficiently and are best positioned to serve our customers.”

He also said the company intends “to use the tools afforded by this process to continue optimizing our store fleet in an orderly manner.”

By closing roughly 550 stores, Big Lots would cut its retail footprint by about 40%. Stores can currently be found in every state except Alaska and Hawaii. The company began in 1967 , but it wasn’t until 2001 that all of its store names switched to Big Lots.

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