After months of store closures and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Big Lots is preparing to close all of its locations, according to a press release issued by the company on Thursday, including a previously announced closure in Tulare County.
More than 400 stores have already been closed by the retailer in 2024 with the remaining ones set to hold “going out of business” sales.
Fate of Big Lots in Tulare County
The last remaining Big Lots discount store in Tulare County is closing.
The Big Lots at 1675 Hillman St. in Tulare is among the 19 locations listed in the second round of closures announced on Nov. 18. The Bakersfield store is also on that list.
The Tulare location outlasted the Big Lots in Visalia, which was among the 315 stores in the first round of closures announced on Sept. 9. That announcement also included the Hanford and Fresno locations.
The Big Lots in Clovis survived both rounds of closures. No actual closing dates have been announced for the Tulare store, which is having an up to 40% off sale.
Big Lots: Last store in Tulare County set to close
“The Company is preparing to commence going out of business (GOB) sales at all remaining Big Lots store locations in the coming days to protect the value of its estate,” Big Lots said in the press release.
CEO Bruce Thorn said the closures could be reversed if a company sale is completed.
“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale. 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,” Thorn said in the release.
The company said it would continue to serve customers in-store and online and did not specify how long the sales would last.
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Bankruptcy and store closures at Big Lots
Back in September, Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection weeks after announcing plans to close 340 stores across the United States.
The company said at the time that the closures were part of a sale agreement with an affiliate of Nexus Capital Management LP, according to a news release. Hope was on the horizon for the company as it announced the approval to sell most of its assets and business operations to Nexus.
That hope was dashed by December, however, when the sale failed to go through.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big Lots closures: what to know as stores announce sales