After filing for bankruptcy in September, Big Lots announced Thursday it would soon begin holding “going-out-of-business” sales at its remaining stores.
The Statesboro Big Lots remained open after the discount retailer closed more than 500 of its 1,400 stores across the country in September and October. Big Lots has been open in the Statesboro Square Shopping Center off Northside Drive, and next to Ocean Galley restaurant, for more than two decades.
Normal holiday season sale signs were posted at the store Friday morning, but the going-out-of-business sale is expected to begin after Christmas.
Back in September, eight stores in Georgia, including locations in Decatur, Fayetteville, Roswell, Savannah, Stockbridge, Stone Mountain, Thomson and Waynesboro, were closed. Along with Statesboro, Big Lots in Vidalia and Hinesville stayed open.
Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1967, the company blamed several economic factors for its bankruptcy, including high inflation and interest rates.
In a statement released Thursday, Big Lots president and CEO Bruce Thorn said the company is holding the going-out-of-business sales to protect the value of the company and still hopes to find a buyer. Big Lots said its goal is to complete a transaction by early January.
"We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale," Thorn said in the company's statement. "While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process."
The company has about 870 locations left still open across the country.
According to data from Coresight Research, a consumer insights group, brick-and-mortar retail stores in general took another series of blows in 2024, with 49 retail bankruptcies in the United States, compared with 25 retail bankruptcies tracked in 2023
Coresight confirmed more than 7,300 store closings this year, led by Family Dollar, with 718, followed by CVS, with 586, and Big Lots, with 580.
That compares with 4,627 store closings across the retail industry by the same time last year, Coresight said.