Big Lots To Close 126 Units

COLUMBUS, OH-Closeout retailer Big Lots plans to shut 85 money-losing broadline stores and all 41 of its stand-alone furniture units by January. Along with previously announced closures, the company will now close 165 to 170 stores by the end of its fiscal year in January.

The broadline stores, mostly in smaller-populated Midwest markets, are on track to lose $9 million and account for 4% of the sales at its 1,500 closeout stores. Executives decided to close the units after a portfolio-wide review in which they found “a growing number of marginally performing stores in weaker or less densely populated markets.” After a similar review last year, executives decided to close 40 units this year.

Big Lots executives have decided to close its furniture stores because those units have also lost money. Furniture transactions in broadline units account for 12% of the company’s total sales, but furniture-store sales accounted for less than 1% of revenues.