Big Lots circling the drain: More closures, bankruptcy looms

[reymann]

River Park location in Fresno is among the closures. Formerly a babies r us, the landlord is giving them the boot at that location l.

That would be an independent closure or a bankruptcy closure. Doubt the landlord is doing anything. Otherwise that Mission Viejo one I mentioned would be gone in this wave. Interesting because the Cerritos store in a former Babies R Us closed recently. So there is a greater likelihood of the closure being related to the lease being up soon? Seems like most of the first wave California BRU stores opened about the same time, followed by the combo units either new build or splitting existing large formats.

The Oceanside store closing is about ten years old and a new format. Closure timing is a perfect match for a lease expiration. It was a nice Ralphs store that probably was culled due to comp pressure from Frazier Farms opening. Ralphs had too many stores clustered together and in my opinion Kroger kept the worst of the three (a hard to get into, hard to find store further north on competitive Hwy 76). Ralphs might want it back as there's no other conventional on that strip of Oceanside Blvd besides a Walmart Neighborhood Market. S&F across the street. Pain in the rear to drive up to Hwy 76 or down to the area near the Carlsbad mall. The immediate area is under served. The fact they aren't divesting any store on Hwy 76 makes me think that hidden Ralphs behind a gas station, behind a Lowe's, is not planned to be kept once the lease expires. There isn't enough business at that furthest North end for a Walmart, large Vons, oversize Ralphs, large Albertsons, large new Stater Bros, Target and Sprouts. Hwy 76 is a difficult road because it lacks the amenities of a freeway (has traffic lights but no on/off ramps) but still has overpass type bridges over other major arterial roads and forms a bit of a wall across the city.

My eyes are now on the west shaw location since that is a former Toys R Us. Not as prime as river park when it comes to location. Furniture is what may do Big Lots in and there is very few customers at their stores.

[BillyGr]

Closing locations already seem to be 'secretly' announced. If you go on the store locator, if the location is closing, there will be a banner at the top of the store page that says 20% off that location. locator link

Also, if one is closing it won't show up on the ad flier - for instance, having found one via the method you mention (Queensbury, NY - the only one in this area, but then again several have closed previously), and entering the zip for that town it shows a number of other stores but NOT that one.

[bryceleinan]

Closing locations already seem to be 'secretly' announced. If you go on the store locator, if the location is closing, there will be a banner at the top of the store page that says 20% off that location. locator link

Also, if one is closing it won't show up on the ad flier - for instance, having found one via the method you mention (Queensbury, NY - the only one in this area, but then again several have closed previously), and entering the zip for that town it shows a number of other stores but NOT that one.

Folsom and Placerville, CA are both closing, as is Vacaville. Logan, UT… none I looked at in Nevada are closing.

[storewanderer]

Closing locations already seem to be 'secretly' announced. If you go on the store locator, if the location is closing, there will be a banner at the top of the store page that says 20% off that location. locator link

Also, if one is closing it won't show up on the ad flier - for instance, having found one via the method you mention (Queensbury, NY - the only one in this area, but then again several have closed previously), and entering the zip for that town it shows a number of other stores but NOT that one.

Folsom and Placerville, CA are both closing, as is Vacaville. Logan, UT… none I looked at in Nevada are closing.

It appears 55 of 109 CA Stores are closing. Most of the WA and AZ Stores are closing- about 12 stores in each state closing.

They have a distro center in SoCal. The next closest distro to the west coast is in Oklahoma.

After these closures I do not think they will have enough stores in CA, NV, AZ, OR, WA (it will be under 100 stores left after these closures) to operate the CA distro center so we will see what happens.

They can probably supply TX, NM, CO, from an OK distro center.

[ClownLoach]

Also, if one is closing it won't show up on the ad flier - for instance, having found one via the method you mention (Queensbury, NY - the only one in this area, but then again several have closed previously), and entering the zip for that town it shows a number of other stores but NOT that one.

Folsom and Placerville, CA are both closing, as is Vacaville. Logan, UT… none I looked at in Nevada are closing.

It appears 55 of 109 CA Stores are closing. Most of the WA and AZ Stores are closing- about 12 stores in each state closing.

They have a distro center in SoCal. The next closest distro to the west coast is in Oklahoma.

After these closures I do not think they will have enough stores in CA, NV, AZ, OR, WA (it will be under 100 stores left after these closures) to operate the CA distro center so we will see what happens.

They can probably supply TX, NM, CO, from an OK distro center.

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

[storewanderer]

Folsom and Placerville, CA are both closing, as is Vacaville. Logan, UT… none I looked at in Nevada are closing.

It appears 55 of 109 CA Stores are closing. Most of the WA and AZ Stores are closing- about 12 stores in each state closing.

They have a distro center in SoCal. The next closest distro to the west coast is in Oklahoma.

After these closures I do not think they will have enough stores in CA, NV, AZ, OR, WA (it will be under 100 stores left after these closures) to operate the CA distro center so we will see what happens.

They can probably supply TX, NM, CO, from an OK distro center.

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

At this point after these closures that distro is going to be so under capacity that keeping it makes no sense. It was already way under capacity before these closures. It is a newer distro center and was built with hundreds of stores expansion in mind.

Maybe a smaller facility elsewhere in SoCal to handle incoming port freight makes sense as long as they stay in business.

I am wondering if a 300-400 store version of the chain can survive out of the OH/PA region.

The fact that 10% of the chain is closing but 50% of those closures are in CA shows there is a major issue with their store operation in CA.

When you look at their closures you actually see a lot of "clusters" of closures (especially in CA). Not "pruning the geography" type closures. I am wondering if they had really bad district and store management in some clusters of stores that just doomed the region. I don't want to be too hard on these people when I know the product and systems they are given to work with are complete trash.

[veteran+]

It appears 55 of 109 CA Stores are closing. Most of the WA and AZ Stores are closing- about 12 stores in each state closing.

They have a distro center in SoCal. The next closest distro to the west coast is in Oklahoma.

After these closures I do not think they will have enough stores in CA, NV, AZ, OR, WA (it will be under 100 stores left after these closures) to operate the CA distro center so we will see what happens.

They can probably supply TX, NM, CO, from an OK distro center.

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

At this point after these closures that distro is going to be so under capacity that keeping it makes no sense. It was already way under capacity before these closures. It is a newer distro center and was built with hundreds of stores expansion in mind.

Maybe a smaller facility elsewhere in SoCal to handle incoming port freight makes sense as long as they stay in business.

I am wondering if a 300-400 store version of the chain can survive out of the OH/PA region.

The fact that 10% of the chain is closing but 50% of those closures are in CA shows there is a major issue with their store operation in CA.

When you look at their closures you actually see a lot of "clusters" of closures (especially in CA). Not "pruning the geography" type closures. I am wondering if they had really bad district and store management in some clusters of stores that just doomed the region. I don't want to be too hard on these people when I know the product and systems they are given to work with are complete trash.

I have never been in one of their stores in my general area that was NOT a dump.

The one in Palm Springs that took over one of the highest volume F&Es in the chain turned into a dump. Gorgeous architecture wasted on that 99CT store.

[ClownLoach]

It appears 55 of 109 CA Stores are closing. Most of the WA and AZ Stores are closing- about 12 stores in each state closing.

They have a distro center in SoCal. The next closest distro to the west coast is in Oklahoma.

After these closures I do not think they will have enough stores in CA, NV, AZ, OR, WA (it will be under 100 stores left after these closures) to operate the CA distro center so we will see what happens.

They can probably supply TX, NM, CO, from an OK distro center.

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

At this point after these closures that distro is going to be so under capacity that keeping it makes no sense. It was already way under capacity before these closures. It is a newer distro center and was built with hundreds of stores expansion in mind.

Maybe a smaller facility elsewhere in SoCal to handle incoming port freight makes sense as long as they stay in business.

I am wondering if a 300-400 store version of the chain can survive out of the OH/PA region.

The fact that 10% of the chain is closing but 50% of those closures are in CA shows there is a major issue with their store operation in CA.

When you look at their closures you actually see a lot of "clusters" of closures (especially in CA). Not "pruning the geography" type closures. I am wondering if they had really bad district and store management in some clusters of stores that just doomed the region. I don't want to be too hard on these people when I know the product and systems they are given to work with are complete trash.

It's a real estate problem. They seem to have a certain dollar amount they don't want to pay over. So they have systematically given up their highest quality locations over the last 5 years or so. To me it appears the lowest quality real estate is all they're going to retain. They will never be profitable with only garbage locations. Many of the closures this round are more desirable sites than what will remain, at least in SoCal. Their presence in SoCal is going to be so minimal I don't think it's worth bothering, they should just close them all. There is zero value to this chain.

[storewanderer]

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

At this point after these closures that distro is going to be so under capacity that keeping it makes no sense. It was already way under capacity before these closures. It is a newer distro center and was built with hundreds of stores expansion in mind.

Maybe a smaller facility elsewhere in SoCal to handle incoming port freight makes sense as long as they stay in business.

I am wondering if a 300-400 store version of the chain can survive out of the OH/PA region.

The fact that 10% of the chain is closing but 50% of those closures are in CA shows there is a major issue with their store operation in CA.

When you look at their closures you actually see a lot of "clusters" of closures (especially in CA). Not "pruning the geography" type closures. I am wondering if they had really bad district and store management in some clusters of stores that just doomed the region. I don't want to be too hard on these people when I know the product and systems they are given to work with are complete trash.

It's a real estate problem. They seem to have a certain dollar amount they don't want to pay over. So they have systematically given up their highest quality locations over the last 5 years or so. To me it appears the lowest quality real estate is all they're going to retain. They will never be profitable with only garbage locations. Many of the closures this round are more desirable sites than what will remain, at least in SoCal. Their presence in SoCal is going to be so minimal I don't think it's worth bothering, they should just close them all. There is zero value to this chain.

I see a mix of closures occurring some in rough areas and some in better areas. Some in "rural" areas as well. Placerville, for instance. And that was also remodeled into their new format a couple years ago with the enhanced lighting and all the Bigonaire signage or whatever. Weren't they going to open 500 new stores in rural areas or something?

Their stores in my area Reno, Sparks, Carson City, are not very nice and three are in direct and immediate competition with Wal Mart (and various other retailers). The Sparks one which is a "neighborhood store" (another of their past initiatives where they were going to open in neighborhoods instead of major retail areas) is a little newer than the others but it is still not very nice. The Reno-McCarran one is a former MacFrugals and by far the worst of the lot. I was expecting the Sparks and Carson City units to close and both Reno units to be safe.

I am sure the Ace Hardware folks who want to open stores all over town will be lining up to occupy all 4 Big Lots spaces when they close.

[reymann]

That SoCal distribution center likely handles all their direct import merchandise for the whole chain. Stuff like seasonal goods. So they have a use for it. Until the whole chain goes under, which seems to be on the way.

At this point after these closures that distro is going to be so under capacity that keeping it makes no sense. It was already way under capacity before these closures. It is a newer distro center and was built with hundreds of stores expansion in mind.

Maybe a smaller facility elsewhere in SoCal to handle incoming port freight makes sense as long as they stay in business.

I am wondering if a 300-400 store version of the chain can survive out of the OH/PA region.

The fact that 10% of the chain is closing but 50% of those closures are in CA shows there is a major issue with their store operation in CA.

When you look at their closures you actually see a lot of "clusters" of closures (especially in CA). Not "pruning the geography" type closures. I am wondering if they had really bad district and store management in some clusters of stores that just doomed the region. I don't want to be too hard on these people when I know the product and systems they are given to work with are complete trash.

It's a real estate problem. They seem to have a certain dollar amount they don't want to pay over. So they have systematically given up their highest quality locations over the last 5 years or so. To me it appears the lowest quality real estate is all they're going to retain. They will never be profitable with only garbage locations. Many of the closures this round are more desirable sites than what will remain, at least in SoCal. Their presence in SoCal is going to be so minimal I don't think it's worth bothering, they should just close them all. There is zero value to this chain.

I wonder if Mark Miller might be interested in buying the remaining California Big Lots stores to jump start the reboot of Pic N Save. Furniture is what killed a lot of the customer base for Big Lots in California.