The (Perplexing) Fall of Big Lots | Seen As Expensive While Being Cheap | History in the Dark
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Big Lots, for many years, was the top of the game in terms of overstock and closeout merchandise sales. But, quite recently, they have fallen into bankruptcy and liquidation. Their failure shocked many, but it wasn't entirely unexpected.
✈️Further Reading✈️
www.pymnts.com...
www.npr.org/20...
www.modernreta...
www.cbsnews.co...
en.wikipedia.o...
🟢Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @historyinthedark
🟢Patreon - / darknessthecurse
🟣Discord - / discord
🔵Facebook - / history-in-the-dark-10...
🟢Donations - streamlabs.com...
🔴Tiktok - / historyinthedark
🟣Instagram - / historyinthedark
🔵Twitter - / darkthecurse
🟣Merch - / @historyinthedark
🟣Twitch - / edgerabbit
Other channels:
🟢Prehistory in the Dark: / @prehistoryinthedark
🟣Gaming and Fanfic Readings: / @darknessthecurse
🟣History Stuff: / @historyinthedark
👔Merch: streamlabs.com...
---
I WRITE BOOKS! YOU CAN FIND THEM HERE:
📚Abyss: www.amazon.com...
📚Pryde: www.amazon.com...
📚Abyss on Audible: www.amazon.com...
#biglots #retail #truestory #documentary #corporate #bankruptcy #bigbox
Your title is exactly why I stopped going to Big Lots. It used to be a place to buy the unwanted stuff big chain stores couldn't sell for a cheaper price, to now selling the same stuff for the same price as the original big chain store. I stopped shopping at Big Lots years ago when I saw there wasn't any cost saving.
You get better prices at Walmart on most things
Big lots was very different 20 years ago
@PixieMermaid-fz9rt and,from what I've seen at the ones I've been to,it's older stuff as well
I work at one currently. It's kinda sad. The small town im from doesn't have a lot of money, and so many people are die hards for this store in particular. Its been open for at least 40 years. Hell, my mom took me shopping here as a kid.
Places like Big Lots seem to rob those in poverty… these people come in a think they are getting a deal and end up overspending.
@@simplytrolling6869 why is it the stores fault that people aren't wise with their money?
@@mrletsplayit Because it’s a predatory business tactic to essentially monopolize a corner of the market in a less affluent area (as the original commenter is talking about) and overcharge consumers when they know they have no alternatives.
@@simplytrolling6869 There's a reason why predatory people and businesses such as Big Lots love small towns. They're often times disconnected from reality and can be weaseled out of anything. Wake up, people. If they look like you and try to sell you the moon, RUN.
@@mrletsplayit don't worry, this person is simply trolling....
I picked up groceries ONCE at Big Lots. They had a sale on Pepsi products and my family didn't want to run to another store. It was expired by multiple months. I think that's all anyone needs to know about the Big Lots grocery shopping experience.
I worked at a big lots for a holiday season as a teenager and I'm surprised they held on this long. Also the reason they started selling milk and eggs was to qualify for food stamp money
@mr.k7457 I worked for them from 2009-2018, the last 6.5 years as a manager. You are correct about the eggs and milk. That was just one of the earlier mind-bendingly stupid decisions made by the C-Suite. It started at least as early as 2008, with the shift AWAY FROM buying up closeouts and liquidations, the last of those (Long's Drug Store and California Furniture) being set in 2009 and early 2010. After that, they moved to getting overstock and other good deals while pushing more NVO (never out items) and furniture. The freezers/coolers came in 2013, I believe. The downward spiral just kept going and is too long for me to discuss now. I worked in the Columbus, OH district, which also contained corporate. I knew plenty of people over there (a lot of the District 1 managers did), and some of the decisions were just plain dumb and were not things our customers wanted.
COVID kept the company afloat for longer than would have happened had COVID not happened. The course to destruction was set at least by 2008; it just took a little longer to run off the rails.
Most ironic that Big Lots is in decline while another closeout company, Ollie's, is gaining traction in many of the same areas! In our neighborhood, we haven't had a Big Lots in more than a decade. Even more ironic is that Ollie's, Dollar (and-a-quarter) Tree, and Family Dollar share a former supermarket location barely a block away from the old Big Lots!
yeah but i got a huge bottle of carpet detergent for 7.99$ at ollies when a normal bottle of detergent at big lots was 17.99 and 24.99 at walmart/target
So true, I remember when BIg Lots used to look like Ollie's in that the stores were a mishmash of various products at rock bottom prices. In other words, it looked like an outlet store, and you knew you were going to find something you wanted. This was where Big Lots lost its appeal in my opinion, as that 2nd hand look went away, and it started to resemble just another chain store. While the merchandise was decent, there was a question of whether you wanted to pay those prices as the deals started going away.
@ the merchandise is on par with wish/temu at walmart prices.
Went into big lots the other day. for it to be a store that is closing, the prices are still too high .
My mom used to always call big lots odd lots and i never knew why until recently. Seeing this made me think of her 🕊️
My dad used to call it Big Sluts
Lol my dad called it the same thing. Thing is, we now have a local business called Odd's Odds.
I remember as a kid lost in the toy section finding weird random toys but always fun.
On the subject of groceries, in the early 2000's Big Lots actually had a huge number of unique brands that you could not get at any other grocery store in my entire state (one example being Cape Cod chips). For a few years there I actually did go to Big lots a lot specifically for foods that were in no other grocery store. This didn't last long though as by the late 2000's pretty much every grocery store started carrying most of those brands and for cheaper.
I was about to post the same thing. The one by me went through a period of having lots of interesting foodstuffs. Eventually it just became the same stuff you could get at wallmart, for cheaper.
Something about Big Lots closing just seemed surreal to me when I first saw the one nearby me.
Last time I went to a Big Lots was a decade ago. Empty shelves and a bunch of items strewn all over the ground. Bought an SD card that broke within a week. I'm amazed they lasted as long as they did.
Also, Big Lots? Nice inside? Dude, Big Lots has always been K-Mart ghetto. Never been in a nice one before.
I liked Big Lots, they used to have a unique selection of household goods and decor. Also reasonably priced seasonal and holiday decor. But it's sorta a relic of the pre-Amazon era. Everything I'd consider buying at Big Lots I can get from Dollar General or Amazon. I have 3 Dollar Generals plus a Family Dollar within a 3 to 5 min drive of my home. And of course I can shop Amazon without getting out of bed. The nearest Big Lots is a solid 20 min or more away in a much busier retail district. Where it's also near a Walmart, Target, Homegoods, Michaels/Hobby Lobby, Ollies, etc. Which are where I'm actually going if I've bothered to drive that far.
We bought two matching couches and two love seats at Big Lots 15 years ago, and still have them.
And THAT'S the problem. People buy furniture only once every few years. You are working on FIFTEEN YEARS since they sold that to you. Big Lots needed to sell furniture to a lot more people a lot more often. Like annually. And the problem is, almost nobody buys furniture like that. Nobody needs furniture like that. It may be very profitable. But not when you sell one couch a month and it takes huge floorspace to do even that.
I live in Dallas, Texas and they are pretty much all gone.Only about 10 left and all are in surrounding cities. I believe their downfall stemmed from the furniture department. At first you could kinda find some deals with the furniture. However, overtime the furniture, and everything else just became too expensive. What a shame.
Sometimes I'm just here for vintage commercials lol
Yes! Makes me feel like a kid again
Watching it collapse feels kind of surreal. I grew up with Odd Lots, then the Big Lots it eventually became. Sometimes there are really cheap and unique items - they used to be the only place I could buy potato flour in my rural neighborhood, and they used to sell these nice risotto packs that didn’t have any salt in them. Other times their items were exorbitant as hell.
In the light of their collapse I picked up a plant pot holder that I was looking at 6 months ago and was now 30% off (making it about $10) and some impromptu winter gear because it was the only place that still had snow shovels after our little blizzard a few weeks ago. I’m seeing if their signs increase in discount to nab a couple book shelves if I can, but I’d imagine i probably shouldn’t bet on it
I'm shocked they lasted this long, honestly. Big Lots was just never relevant. I went there a handful of times and nothing they stocked mattered. They'd have entirely random groceries, entirely random home décor, entirely random toys and nonsense, I think the only thing I ever actually bought there was wrapping paper around Christmas. They just floundered around like a much worse, more offbrand TJ Maxx but without the clothes. Frankly I was always shocked when I'd drive by and see cars in the parking lot. What were people actually buying?
I used to work at one as a seasonal employee part time. Even working there I could tell it would not last from the companies views and the lack of customers. I just came from the big lots I used to work at as a last good bye.
It was really sad. Big lots was a lot of things, but I will always be thankful to it and the store manager at the time as a college student at the time.
UA-cam recommending me the history about my job thats currently dying is such a funny sight, but I can't complain. Ive been at the place for about 3 years, starting back in 2021 while I attempted my first year of college. Its been a hell of a mess on the associate side of things, Ive basically been in the dark of the news of whats happening with my location and what the general plan of the new owners, Gorden Brothers Retail Partners, is with the liquidation status and so on. Not to mention the amount of customers who have either selectively read our signs or just are so ignorant about whats happening they seemingly weren't aware this late into the closing.
I always wondered if Big Lots was connected to the Odd Lots store where my grandparents liked to go, and I guess in a roundabout way, it was. I feel bad for all the employees losing work cuz of the closure.
When they first put a big lots in my town they did have some good deals when i would go in there. Something changed around 2016. I was working in a call center that was in the same strip mall as a big lots so id walk over there on breaks just to get out of the office. I noticed everything climbing up in price and the undesirable merchandise they carried started piling up and the good deals on unique items slowly disappeared.
On a side note i have never seen a big lots commercial in my life. Not even after they moved into my market.
My local Big Lots! did a remodel a few years ago. They got rid of a lot of the cheaper products and raised their prices. They're now empty with a big "for lease" sign in the window.
Sent my BF to Big Lots to check out some furniture for our new place & he said it was way too expensive... So like, felt this. They always come across as "cheap, affordable" yet they're so expensive.... Bye Bye Big Lots!
I kind of can't remember any time someone said, "We're going to Big Lots", it was always between Costco and Sam's Club with people I knew
Congrats, you summed it up well and added context that I was unaware of. I've long thought that they moved from being a closeout store to being a discount store, i.e. a competitor with Dollar General but they still thought of themselves as a closeout store.
I remember buying a cheap couch there years ago. It was a great deal.
I used to love Big Lots, then I noticed they were charging the same, if not more, for stuff you can easily find at other stores. They prey on people who don't have transportation to stores further away and their furniture is absolute garbage.
Maybe you know this and were making a joke at 2:15, but an "odd lot" is a small amount of stuff that's left over when all of the orders have been fulfilled. When a factory has sold all they can and have an "odd lot" left over, they sell it to discounters. That's why it was called "Odd Lots" originally.
I made a small fortune reselling toothbrushes on Amazon from Big Lots. Was alotta fun.
Dood my family used to shop here a lot...nowadays I just hear jokes from my parents about how they won't buy any of the expired food, some stuff was there for months past the sell by date.
When I was a kid though like 20 years ago, it was pretty fun for Xmas and stuff
Not surprised it's gone down lol, still sucks to see another place shutter
It all boils down to bad leadership and not investing in your brand or the people who work for you. If you build your house on quicksand, don't expect it to stay above ground very long.
Not surprised big lots is gone. They were getting pricey. Walmart was still cheaper
Big Lots had the weirdest business model. Their prices are NOT low and the stores are trash. I used to get a few food deals years ago but in last 5-10 years the “deals” were non existent. Many times their products cost as much or more than a regular grocery store. The stores were always trashed and the employees were not helpful. There is no point in shipping there
It may just be me having been a dumb kid when the transition occurred, but honestly I prefer the name Odd Lots. It very much represented the odds and ends of things they’d pick up and have for sale.
Worked at Big Lots as a teen in the furniture department. Still remember the music played in store, and how many mattress/living room sets we sold. Minimum wage but the work was super easy, lived with my parents at the time so it was just a temporary job to give me work experience. They did have some unique food items like artisan pickles & middle eastern dry foods. $20 fan from Walmart would be half the price there.
In the early 1990's a Big Lots opened up in my area. I remember going there often with my dad. We also used to go to a few liquidator stores nearby. Sometimes they had decent items for great prices but the liquidator stores closed in the early 2000's. Big Lots closed but another location popped up shortly after.
I will never forget one day going into the big lots next to reliant stadium in houston and finding DOZENS of anime dvds on sale for 1.50 in 2005. My dad only let me spend about 10 dollars on a big lots trip so i got half of A Little Snow Fairy Sugar and prayed the remaining discs would be in stock when i came back in 2 weeks.
They werent but 5 years later i had made a friend who at a different big lots, picked up the 2 discs i was missing, and only those two discs.
Every now and then when i see a big lots i remember that and go in and check whats around. Im never too disappointed with whats there and usually leave with some snacks, but with the stock there, i could never imagine going there regularly.
I did 9 years at a Big Lots down the road from a state mental hospital with an open door policy. These were the golden years... when they had good merch cheap. Hell, when I started it was MacFrugals. Had a massive toy section, clothes, lots of stationary and computer stuff, and annoyingly... plates... so many plate sets. Store did about 15-20k a day... and the customers treated it like dirt. We literally had 8 carts of gobacks a night, as the day shift only stocked and us night folks only cleaned.
I miss those days... when you could find Small Soldiers model kits alongside Deluxe Beast Wars toys at $10 or less a pop. When you could get inkjet photo paper and blank DVDs at $5 a pop. When the entire center of the store transformed into whatever seasonal crap was appropriate... and people lined up outside on Ad day to get cheap toaster ovens.
Admittedly I am a dying breed in that I still like to browse, but I'm stunned that a discount chain is struggling when so many shoppers have been flocking to discount stores amid high inflation. However I did notice a decline in their merchandise in the last several years. They used to have a lot of neat little electronics that I could have been interested in as well as a lot of DVDs and Blu Rays (again I'm a dying breed) that I would love flipping through since I prefer physical discs over streaming, but over time the choice stuff seemed to disappear and be replaced with junk. I did discover the Looming Tower miniseries one of the last times I visited their stores, but most of the stuff I want to watch I've been having more luck finding on eBay or elsewhere online.
And yeah I don't recall buying anything in the grocery aisles unless I happened to be hungry or thirsty while in their stores.
I just quit working at one of those stores that opened in 2022. Absolute madness to open and close in 3 years. Disorganization and awful corporate infrastructure. Hired in June, quit in November… they were trying to get me to take a management position IN NOVEMBER 2024 knowing full well they had less than a month until closing the store
They opened one here two years ago. Funny how short of a time it was around
Love your channel and the subjects that you cover. Your presentation style is spot on too! My one wish is for recording your audio on a better mic. The mix sounds like it was recorded on a phone and it can be a little thin and high end. Please don’t take this as a dig. I want you to keep on gaining viewers and be able to make a good living off UA-cam. Just wanting to give some input on what could elevate your videos to the next level.
Keep up the good work!!
I thought I was the only one who noticed. This is the first time I wished for an AI voice.
I used to shop for cereal, coffee, other random snack foods, cleaning supplies, toilet paper and paper towels at big lots. Cereal was very well priced.
the end table cabinet thing my PC sits on right now is from big lots and its really nice. it was about 90 dollars and now I wish I bought 3.
The problem I had with BIG Lots was that everything I got from there normally was garbage, and when I checked the food, it was normally expired or on the date it expired. So, it made it hard to trust anything from the store.
Thanks for the great videos dude. I love this video format. You do it best.
I have memories of going to Big Lots with my dad and he'd go around and shoplift stuff, back then i was too young to really understand the full consequences. Those are my memories of those stores
Biglots just never had the 2 dollar lentil curry I liked all the time.
The funniest thing I ever saw at a Big Lots was condoms. Yeah, I want some overstock, close out condoms.
The Big Loss of Big Lots :P
When I started seeing stuff especially health and beauty products at higher prices then Walmart and even Target. I saw the writing on the wall. Man I miss Odd Lots they were better than Big Lots.
I worked at one of the 2 warehouses they closed down in 2024. It was a sad day when I loaded my final truck. My sofa and gaming desk as well as a bunch of my DVDs came from there. Hopefully one of the 2 I can easily access by bus will stay open if they do.
I worked in several stores in District 1 from 2009-2018.
I worked for Biglots in the 90’s it was case cut and put it on the shelf. They wanted to make it a treasure hunt for the customers.I also worked for McFrugals which it was more upscale than Big Lots.
Working at one myself. 8 years some ups and downs. I didn't really like the job that much but I stayed because my managers are good to me and that made a BIG difference. I'll miss my managers but not the company.
I don’t think they were doing very much actual liquidating anymore, but rather just stocked stuff or had things made for them. That’s why they were expensive. They always has the same basic stuff. Not a true liquidator like Ollie’s who’s inventory constantly changes.
I always saw them as a "ding and dent" center; buying stock that had packaging errors, short expiration dates and returned merchandise so I didn't shop there. That was definitely an image issue for me because I assumed what I was buying was faulty in some tiny way.
8:03 - We didn't go there for groceries necessarily, but would always find cheap snacks and other random food items to buy.
Great video, i just want to point out that Dollar General is not and has not ever been a store where everything is $1. Dollar Bill now DBA as Dollar Tree used to have all items for $1, but now they are $1.25 and have select items up to $10. Just wanted to clear that up.
Dollar stores used to be great back when they started in the '70s. You could get all kinds of discontinued stuff for a buck. Then an outfit like Dollar Tree comes along and swings deals with subcontractors to manufacture their own junk to sell for a dollar. Oh, well.....
There was also a store named "Everything's $1.00" I doubt it's still open.
Same for Family Dollar. I can't count how many times folks would run in, grab a product that was clearly 60 bucks, with a price tag on it, and get mad it wasn't a dollar. "But it's family dollar!!! Dollar!!!! Dooooooolllllllaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!" Yeah, and you're illiterate, I'm sorry.
Not true. The first store in Kentucky had everything for $1 or in multiples for a dollar. Such as 1 item for $1, 3 items for $1 etc. Granted it was in 1955 but my point is there was a time which you said it was not.
@proptrader 1955 was wayyyyyy before I was born. $1 was a lot back then so it seems like less of a deal. But you're right, Dollar General was $1 like 70 years ago 🙄.
I didn’t know what Big Lots even was supposed to sell until it closed.
I read a few years ago, that Big Lots lost their cheap furniture manufacturer. You could get a reclining couch for around $300. Of course, it’ll last about 3 years, but for people living in an apartment, college students, young families, this was perfect. Prices on their furniture went up dramatically, but that reputation of only lasting a couple of years stayed.
Big Lots has cheap items at expensive prices.
I’m from Ohio. Big Lots/Odd Lots was a big part of my childhood. My grandma lived right behind one and every weekend we would walk there to get a toy. There are still stores around here but their prices are the same (or more) as any other store. No real point in going there anymore.
Many years ago I worked at biglots DC for 5 years. The pay was horrific but it was honestly a really fun place to work initially. It was super relaxed we got a really awsome discount. They always gave us free stuff. Then one day it all changed! They suddenly wanted one person to do the work of three. They would get upset if you couldn't go fast enough and still stack the product in the trailer with the right orientation and "high and tight" lol. The raises were laughable like a 25 cents or less a year. My boss turned into kind of a jerk, I think he might have been going through somthing he's the reason I eventually quit for a job im still at 13 years later that literally payed over double what I was making there. Still I'll always be grateful for the job, it took care of my family and myself until something better came along. Shortly after I quit the stores started declining as well. I believe that must have been a turning point for biglots. My heart goes out to anyone who lost their jobs!
In the area I live, the Big Lots was great and extremely busy even currently while their closing out. Obviously most of their stores weren't performing this well, but I assume that's why they did open some locations in more expensive markets, where their margins are better. Too bad they couldn't make it work, but I think it was probably too big a transition to work out sustainably. I think what's really hurt Big Lots is that there is now a Dollar store at every intersection in this country, which also isn't sustainable BTW, so it should be quite the episode when Dollar Tree shutters 10,000 stores at one time.
Am in California but most big lots have shutdown
I question if big lots is even buying overstock lots. There stores do come off as a bigger dollar general. The furniture we ever got there was cheap and hit the trash within 5 years of use.
The answer to your question is: essentially no. Big Lots quit buying closeouts and liquidations around 2009-2010 (I worked for them from 2009-2018). The occasional overstock would occur, but nothing huge. I can't speak with absolute authority for what they did after I was separated from the company, but I imagine that fewer and fewer good buys happened and that probably almost everything was planned.
2:26 - The word "odd" in this context refers to the phrase "odds & ends."
When was Dollar General only a dollar?? 😅
In 1955. The first store had everything for $1 or in multiples for a dollar. Such as 1 item for $1, 3 items for $1 etc.
Seriously. I'm Canadian and last time I went to a Dollar General I saw things for like 7 USD which is insanely expensive to me. There usually isn't things for over 5 CAD at our Canadian dollar store chain Dollarama. I don't understand how stuff was so expensive at Dollar General
Back in the 90s and early 2000s stuff actually was a dollar. Kinda like how the McDonald's value menu used to be the dollar menu.
It's called Dollar General because at least SOME of the items are for a dollar.
@@anancapcat4221 every store has some items for a dollar lmao
0:36 a WHAT point??!
“He should stay explanation point” 😂‼️ not one, but two incorrect words 👏🏽😅
EXCLAMATION POINT......Goob
The shittiest part is that the Big Lots in my area is still trying to hire folks even though theyre closing. I inagine everyone quit. Ive also never seen a store closing that took multiple months to a year?
I went to a total of three Big Lots! stores. All three were trashy as heck. Shelves were not arranged. Stuff lying wherever someone put it. And the isle floors were full of boxes. Open boxes, closed boxes, empty boxes, torn up boxes. You could hardly walk around the store. I felt I needed a shower when I left the store.
This is wild for me to think about because we just sold a couple million dollars worth of the Martha Stuart dog food brand to them for I think about 60% what it was worth? because they weren’t selling for us. This was literally 8-10 months ago at absolute most.
How Biglots messed up: Cheap people want things even cheaper. Never advertise yourself as a cheap, low cost, or discounted business. You will eventually go out of business, trying to appease the masses. Lesson learned, as a 5 year business owner and 20 year entrepreneur.
Just visited mine for the last time. I miss it already...😥😥
I work at the Big Lots in Bend. Literally started this December and the store's kicking the bucket at the end of February. I don't really have anything to say.
Inferior products and close dated groceries. I bought a electric razor from them. It ripped up my face and I returned it. I found it on the shelf a week later!
Big lots was never my "go to store" but as you say if I need some home decor items like towels, furniture etc I'd usually look at the place and maybe pick up some cheap stuff while I am there like their dry foods. I kind of fell out of going though when they pushed this Big lots membership... that basically never did anything.If you had a card and remembered to bring it you could get like 10% off items on select holidays like twice a year. That was about it.
Gotta say, the Big Lots closest to me absolutely never tried. It was always dirty, poorly kept. There was a K-Mart around the corner that was extremely dated, but far better kept. Last time I was in both was 2020, I think? I know it was the same day. In any case, I needed scotch tape and something else simple that I can't recall, a road closure took me off my normal path, and they were right there. Big Lots didn't have the other thing, hence going to two totally on-the-way-out retailers at the same time and gathering this perspective.
Here's my take; Used to go to Big Lots as a kid, often. Part of my dad's 1990's "gotta stay healthy" thing was getting more walking in, so we'd go to a large local dirt mall / flea market, he'd get his steps in, and we'd look at whatever nonsense came in that week. Thing is, over the countless times we went there, I can think of only a handful of times that my father ever actually bought something, and usually it would be a routine item that could have been purchased anywhere for a comparable price... I remember a dish strainer, plastic bristle brush, stuff like that. I think Big Lots experience in the late 90's / early 2000's probably had a lot to do with optics: They became known as the cheap place, where you bought cheap things. This was a bad look for a culture that had started throwing the idea of utility out and replacing it with vanity. "See, this isn't a Ford Explorer... it's a Ford Explorer *Eddie Bauer Edition.*" etc.
My family wasn't like that, but we did operate on a kind of unspoken mantra of "we're too poor for cheap things." It's why I don't mess with Wish or Temu. Basically, it's great that Big Lots has (whatever item we might have been thinking about purchasing), but *why* did this one not sell? Is there something about this particular model that we're unaware of? Can we get a better brand name for a little bit more? ...and 9 times out of 10, we'd end up doing just that. One of the earlier purchases from Big Lots I recall my father making was a window unit air conditioner that failed kind of early. I can't imagine that we were alone in purchasing something only to be displeased with it, and then relegating the place to being strictly where you purchase air freshener, a welcome mat or kitchen drawer organizers. So basically, the bargain hunters aren't really feeling it, the people preoccupied with image aren't feeling it, then the internet appears, and it's done.
I was in one of these stores only once. It was many years ago and was called Odd Lots. I saw no reason to return in the decades that followed.
And the ugly furniture is still the same price as somewhere else. for a while in the 90's, they were great with the buyouts, but it quickly turned sour.
The furniture was a pretty sweet deal. Its where I got my dining room table and chairs for $500. Solid wood too!
However, I can see the issue. You don't get a whole lot of options with regards to style, and its always a crap shoot as to what exactly they'll have in stock.
Dude, 7:19 - EXACCCCTLY !!!! I grew up with two Pic-N-Sav’s turned Big Lots, and my mom used to take me and my brother there probably every other month (for seasonal items, stationary for me and my mom as we were
Both into pen-palling and crafting,) interior design goods - and the random , odd, FUN food items they’d carry… (OH! AND the girls & women’s accessories like hair stuff and handbags / purses / what have you….) it was totally a staple in our lives !!!
But soon after the furniture portions opened up, we totally stopped going in… the few times over the years that I’d stopped by - I was shocked at how expensive the
Majority of the items were….
Our Big Lots most closets to me, was located in the same strip as a Super Target, (with a Wing Stop restaurant, a nail salon and a vitamin store in between!) and let me paint the picture:
Target is the “Highest Quality” of your run of the mill, everyday, kinda stores where literally ANYONE can find ANYTHING they need;
Right …?
And the better quality / better quality / better overall appeal , obviously concedes the prices being higher….
That being said, Big Lots was actually SUBSTANTIALLY more expensive than the Target next door !!!!
I was
Befuddled !!
Prices more closely aligned with stores like Gymboree and Pottery Barn , West Elm, etc …. Youknow …??
Was truly heart breaking ti see it close however.
It was so influential on my childhood and I had many multiple memories that were wonderful - due to that store.
Really hurts to see the purple 99cents only stores (💔💔💔💔 this one literally BROKE me lol,) the Big Lots ANd Party Ciry - ALL shutter their skews, in less than 18 months.
Just heartbreaking ! Really !!
I'm gonna have to send this one to one of my buddies. He's a Big Lots manager for one of their stores and if I remember him correctly, he said they're keeping a third of the stores?
The Big Lots nearest me in a neighboring town is closing too. Believe it or not, just about three years ago, they moved from the building built just for them to the old JCPenney unit of the strip mall, which was vacated in 2018.
They bought the leases if closed chsins to pay lower rent. They boght mpst or all the leases when 'Rink's Bargain Barn' went namkrupt in th mid '80s At that time they hd just purhased the assets of a harwares store chain in Kentucky They pried the itens at aeound 25% of the local hardwarre stores in SW Ohio wanted so I bought a lot of quality tools and arware for my shop. I still have some of it, the reast was lost or stolen during a move.
I never cared to shop at "junk" stores like Big Lots, but back more than 20 years ago I was passing a Big Lots, and noticed that they had c.5 ft. trees out front. I stopped to look, and the trees were only $13. I bought a few and planted them in my front yard. Those trees arenow 40 feet tall! My one Big Lots purchase.. Probably the only good things they ever sold. That BL was in a dumpy shopping center with poor egress- don't know about their other stores, but if that's the kind of locations they picked....
They (originally) picked those locations because the rent waa significantly lower. Store 1379 became the company's flagship store in 2009 (I helped open it). It was the first store in high-rent areas. That store never made a profit except maybe a few quarters from when it opened in May 2009 to when it closed in 2024. It was a bad idea.
Explanation point!? Omg. Exclamation point. Ex-cla-ma-tion point. Say it with me.
In the Early 80’s… Oddly enough we had both BiG/Small and BiG/Odd lots in northwest Ohio. 99 cent Atari games and 99 cent GI Joe’s.. I definitely made out as a kid there.
Up in CT, there was Ocean State Job Lot, once saw European price tags on earrings by the checkout counter
When they got into the furniture space, the decline was eminent. Same as Value City. Both were great brands, got greedy and shoved cheap Chinese furniture in at prices that were double Walmart and other dept stores, and they abandoned the “odd” stuff everyone shopped them for, like the state/regional specific items (Cape cod chips was mentioned in the comments and is a good example)
I got a bunk bed from there when I was 8. Had it for yeaaaars. My mom paid 150 for the bunk bed,$50 for the twin mattress, and $65 for the futon mattress(20 years ago)
My daughter wanted a bunk bed, so while we were in town we went buy big lots just so I could look at them. $350 for a bunk bed with twin beds on top and bottom and $100 for each mattress
When we got home I went on Amazon, 150 for a bunk bed with a twin on top and full on bottom, $100 for the full mattress and $50 for the twin mattress.
Their downfall is because their prices are ridiculous. Like everything in your store is cheap af except the furniture. But yeah, I'm sure big lots is going to make tons of money from the 40 cent drinks they have
OMG I remember Odd Lots! I wonder if they have any affiliation with Ollies? The artwork looks similar.
Did executives think a 25,000 square foot dollar general with a big lease and slightly higher prices would work?
I've always seen big lots as dirty and trashy
my small town had the Odd Lots before it was Big Lots and we were PISSED when it was renamed Big Lots. My hometown is in the radius near Cbus OH actually. The stuff there used to be more akin to something you would get at TjMaxx or a typical closeout store. It was a go to for my family since it was a good deal. In the 2010's though it started to suck. I also want to add that this particular store didn't really sell much furniture at all. The grocery side of the store seemed to have different kind of food, not really staple foods, that was all shelf stable. It was more like the kind of food you would see at HomeGoods but with more canned options.
Ten years after the closure of the original Odd Lots in town they decided to open a new one on the opposite side of town in a partially abandoned strip mall. Needless to say it did not do well.
First time I walk in to a big lot was back in 2018 and I was like damn this store is expensive asf.
It's pretty simple, Big lots should have aimed to be like Ross. But instead they're like a Dollar General department store without any dollar items.
The Big Lots in my area is closing as of right now. I used to work there and it was fun at first until it became a revolving door of employees and constantly switching managers. Constant call outs because most of the employees were kids and your performance was based solely on how much reward cards you could sell. They were so pushy about it and would threaten to cut your hours or write you up if you fell behind. I’m glad I quit. Don’t know why most stores are hell bent on those things. The managers would also put their work on the employees, talk on the phone or gossip about you behind your back. You could be a crap employee but if you got the most rewards, nothing else matters.
What about "Your mom liked it"!?
My bed currently has sheets on it from Big Lots i bought probably 12 years ago 😂😂 thick fleece sheets. There were deals back then. Lol
Big lots was pretty rockin back when they sold weird closeouts. Then they got their own products and it went to shit REAL fast.
It's not Dollar General who sells everything for a dollar. That would be Dollar Tree who has since increased their prices to $1.25 with some items costing $5-10
We had Odd Lots here in NYC.