Big Lots is reopening a dozen stores in Pennsylvania
None of the stores are in the Philadelphia region.
Big Lots plans to soon reopen 132 stores as part of what its new owners are calling a “revitalization strategy.”
The strategy involves resurrecting 13 stores in Pennsylvania, but none in the Philadelphia region.
After filing for bankruptcy this fall and seeing a potential sale fall through in December, the discount retailer announced that it would be closing all of its stores, including a dozen in the Philadelphia region. The Ohio-based company started the going-out-of-business process “in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate,” president and CEO Bruce Thorn said at the time.
In early January, however, Big Lots found a buyer, striking a deal with Gordon Bros. Retail Partners to sell some locations to Variety Wholesalers, a North Carolina-based company that owns several chains of discount retailers, primarily in the Southeast U.S.
Under the agreement, Variety will “acquire between 200 and 400 Big Lots stores, which it plans to operate under the Big Lots brand, and up to two distribution centers,” according to an update on the bankruptcy case posted online in January.
In May, 132 stores are set to reopen in 14 states, Variety Wholesalers announced Monday.
“The Big Lots stores opening in May show our continued commitment to providing the best value to our customers with apparel for the family, everyday needs for the home, kitchen, and pantry plus a huge selection of famous brands,” Lisa Seigies, president and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, said in a statement.
Of the 13 locations reopening in Pennsylvania, the closest to Philadelphia are in Lehighton, near Jim Thorpe; Cleona, near Hershey; and East Stroudsburg in the Poconos. So Philadelphia Big Lots fans will have to drive at least an hour and half to get to a new store.
The other locations to reopen in the commonwealth are in Bloomsburg, Camp Hill, DuBois, Dunmore, Erie, Eynon, Franklin, Lewisburg, Meadville, and New Castle.
No stores are slated to reopen in New Jersey or Delaware in May, according to the company’s statement.
The May slate of reopenings comes after Variety Wholesalers in April reopened nine Big Lots stores in six southern states. The company referred to those as “the first of four waves of openings.”
A Variety Wholesalers spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether any Philadelphia-area stores would eventually reopen.
As of August, when Big Lots announced a round of closures that included four Philly-area stores, it had 73 stores in Pennsylvania, 27 in New Jersey, and five in Delaware.