Correction note: this story has been updated. The second last paragraph has been edited to clarify financial data.
Big Lots is closing more than 300 stores, this year, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, and while three of those locations are in the CSRA, according to its website, Augusta seems to have narrowly missed the nationwide culling, at least for now.
The Columbus, Ohio-based discount retail chain filed an 8-K form with the SEC in late July stating it plans to close 315 locations across 34 states. The closings are part of an amendment to a lending agreement, originally made in 2022 and updated this summer, between Big Lots, Inc. and six lending banks: PNC, Huntington National, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Fifth Third and MUFG Bank Ltd.
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The original version of this credit agreement had Big Lots committed to closing only 150 stores. Another amendment to the agreement is reducing the aggregate commitment on the part of Big Lots from $900 million to $800 million.
In May, the company filed a 10-Q form with SEC, stating it expected to close 35 to 40 stores, and open three. Balance sheets on that form saw the company with $1,009,112 in net sales and $1,076,120 in total assets in May 2024, compared to $1,123,577 in April 2023 and $1,086,023 in February 2023, respectively.
According to the Big Lots website, stores in Thomson, Waynesboro and Aiken are slated to close.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
