COLUMBUS, Ohio — A North Carolina-based company is reopening more than 200 Big Lots stores that closed following bankruptcy, while HomeBuys plans to buy one of the chain’s central Ohio locations.
According to court documents, approximately 220 Big Lots stores in 13 states are being liquidated after the chain filed for bankruptcy last September, in preparation for Variety Wholesalers’ plan to renovate and reopen each location by the end of this summer.
Nine storefronts are scheduled to reopen in April, followed by approximately 60 in the first week of May, 70 later that month, and any remaining locations in June.
Meanwhile, HomeBuys will take over two Ohio storefronts, one of which is located in Pickerington at 1171 Hill Road North.
Several other chains are also investing, with Aldi purchasing nine locations across eight states, Burlington adding 12 stores across nine states to their collection of 22 Big Lots stores, and Tractor Supply Co. purchasing 15 stores across 14 states.
Ollie’s, a discount retailer based in Pennsylvania, announced in late February that it had purchased 40 additional Big Lots storefronts that were set to close.
The acquisition brings Ollie’s total ownership of Big Lots stores to 63, including four in Ohio. View a previous NBC4 report on Ollie’s acquisitions in the video player above.
Variety announced in January that it would acquire and reopen 200 storefronts after Gordon Brothers Retail Partners purchased Big Lots, with the initial list of stores including 27 in Ohio and four in the Columbus area.
However, following Ollie’s announcement, the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved Variety’s plans to acquire the leases of only 118 Big Lots stores.
Variety’s list was temporarily reduced due to landlord objections, according to court documents, and some of “the landlords have objected, either formally or informally, to one or more aspects of the relief set out.”
Variety and Gordon Brothers have since stated that they are “in discussions with these landlords regarding potential resolution.” Of the 118 approved locations, 14 are in Ohio, including a Reynoldsburg location at 6300 E. Livingston Ave.
Gordon Brothers is reorganizing Big Lots stores across the country, as well as the chain’s headquarters in Columbus. In late January, the company reached an agreement with OhioHealth to sell the retailer’s 24-acre corporate headquarters in Northeast Columbus for $36 million.
If approved, the sale would expand OhioHealth’s presence in New Albany, where the company already operates an emergency care center and a medical campus with an urgent care facility on nearby Hamilton Road.
Big Lots announced in a city notice last year that 555 employees based at its East Dublin Granville Road headquarters would be laid off. The letter stated that the “mass layoffs” would begin the week of December 29 and end in April.
Big Lots’ December notice of mass layoffs came after the chain announced that it would begin “going out of business” sales at all of its remaining locations after failing to complete a previously announced $765 million sale to Nexus Capital Management, a private equity firm.
