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.
Before shutting down any locations, there were 1,400 Big Lots stores across the United States.
No actual closing dates have been announced for the Tulare store, or for any of the other stores included in the second round of closures.
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“When a closing store will permanently close is based on available remaining inventory,” explains the Big Lots website. “We are unable to provide an exact date of a store’s closure.”
A Tulare Big Lots employee agreed that the store would close its doors when the inventory is sold, but estimated that to happen around the end of January.
The employee said that the closure affects about a dozen employees who were notified about the corporate decision at a staff meeting. Although this person has already managed to find other employment, that is probably not the case for all of the other workers.
The manager on duty at the Tulare store declined comment.
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The 57-year-old company announced its decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 9, along with the first round of store closures. By declaring a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Big Lots is able to reorganize its finances and debts without closing all of its stores.
The retailer blamed inflation and interest rates for the store closures, but decisions were apparently not based on how individual stores performed.
"Though the majority of our store locations are profitable, we intend to move forward with a more focused footprint to ensure that we operate efficiently and are best positioned to serve our customers,” said Bruce Thorn, Big Lots president and CEO. “To accomplish this, we intend to use the tools afforded by this process to continue optimizing our store fleet in an orderly manner."
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As part of the filing, Nexus Capital Management LP, a private equity firm, will assume Big Lots’ business operations and most of its remaining stores. Meanwhile, Big Lots will receive more than $700 million in new financing to operate the stores it will retain.