Big Lots is DEAD to US!

I never went there.

Big Lots is more of a Midwest thing.

It was more of a trailer trash thing.

Good thing my granddaddy's already dead, cuz this news woulda done killed 'im.

They always had a nice selection of imported eastern and central European canned goods; pickles, sauerkraut, spaetzle, mustards, etc.

Eastern and Central European big uncut schlongs?

Spirit Halloween is already taking measurements of the windows.

Spirit Halloween now does Spirit Christmas. They’re going to be the new Walmart. We won’t be able to escape them all year round.

Why don’t they just have year round Spirit stores. Maybe they can push a second Halloween in March or something.

I used to go there years back, but I started noticing their prices were going up steadily to the point that there were few real deals to be had so I stopped going. Haven't been in one in over 5 years, so no loss.

It was dead to me after one store visit ever. This was probably 20 years ago. I took a stroll in one store and walked out as fast as I could. Cheap, trashy, unorganized garbage.

Disgusting stores, just one step up from an open flea market.

[quote] It was more of a trailer trash thing.

Bullshit, it was a 'I know how to find good deals' thing. Big Lots was one of those places you had to visit once a week and just walk the aisles. Some visits you'd come away without finding a thing. Other visits you'd luck up on a great deal. Then some years back their fortunes started to dwindle apparently and the deals became fewer and fewer.

If anyone remembers Fred's stores it was the same scenario. Now Fred's is long gone. I have a feeling Dollar General is next. I hear they're really on the skids. And their parent company also owns Dollar Tree.

The one here had basically been a homeless shelter for the last few years.

Big Lots, like some others, have rotating inventory drive me crazy.

If I bought something there and liked it, chances are very great that the next time I went there, they would not have it. I got tired of that so I stopped going.

The quality of their stores was hit and miss. Some were very well maintained and organized. Others were just disgusting junk shops. Obviously depended on who they had managing the places.

I'm still trying to get over my favorite discount store closing down. Tuesday Morning was a great store. I found so many great deals in their stores I lost count years ago.

Big Lots, like some others, have rotating inventory drive me crazy.

These types of stores rely on buying out foreclosure inventories, as well as some manufacturers looking for a good outlet for their merchandise. There are some items at Dollar Tree for example that are ongoing, with at least one that I know of being the only source for a particular manufacturer's product.

Rotating inventories is the name of the game with these places, and like I said above, you have to go in at least once a week and just peruse the aisles for deals. If that's not your thing that's okay too.

Is there really a difference between R2 and R3?

Such stores had their moment several decades ago.

[quote] Is there really a difference between R2 and R3?

Yes.

[quote] Tuesday Morning was a great store.

It had flavah!

[quote] If that's not your thing that's okay too.

Thank you for your approval. I, for one, am relieved.

Party City is dead, too.

[quote]Why don’t they just have year round Spirit stores. Maybe they can push a second Halloween in March or something.

Spirit Easter.

A lot of these stores that depend on "closeout" merchandise (overstocks, excess inventory, etc.) are dying because inventory controls have improved dramatically and they don't have has much merchandise coming in. That doomed 99 Cents Only as well.

Spirit Purim.

R16 I loved Tuesday Morning. I was very sad when they closed.

I didn’t like Monday mornings —

[quote]If I bought something there and liked it, chances are very great that the next time I went there, they would not have it

That's a problem everywhere. IKEA for instance; you'd think they would have the same items for a considerable length of time, but no; I bought a kitchen cannister set about a year ago and cracked the largest one. Went to buy another and the entire line was "redesigned" (read: completely new product) and a replacement was not available. Do I have to buy two of everything and store one so that when one breaks I have a replacement? (Yes, I've done that specifically at IKEA.)

But the worst: Trader Joes. Jesus Fuck, you can buy the same damn thing there for decades and then... poof. Gone. Never coming back. And I'm not talking about some esoteric spice or ingredient. They cancelled their barbecue sauce, an item I love and have used since I first went to TJs in the early 90s. The flip side is they constantly try new products, but don't get too used to them. If they don't sell well enough, or the manufacturer says they need a price increase, they're gone.

With regard to Big Lots: sad. They had a few items that were great, and there was always something interesting. My local store closed over a year ago. At the time they said they were going to concentrate in rural areas, but that obviously didn't work. R25 hit the nail on the entire segment's demise.

Finally, I'm surprised the Spirit Halloween is expanding to Christmas. Halloween is a weird holiday in that people spend a lot of money on it, but the window is very short. What amazes me is that they can open a store, fill it and staff it in a matter of days, and then only run it for 6 weeks. Where do they find employees so quickly, and why would anyone interested in working in retail take a job they know will only last a couple months at best? The Christmas season lasts longer, but butts up against Halloween, so maybe finding employees would be easier knowing the job would last a few months longer.

Halloween is a weird holiday in that people spend a lot of money on it, but the window is very short.

Just like Christmas…,

We had a decent Big Lots in my area. Sad to see it go. It was a great place to shop cheaply. I rarely found good deals after the pandemic, and I could see them struggling if/when tariffs are raised.

This makes me sad. I've always been a Big Lots fan going back to when it was Odd Lots and MacFrugals. All the stores in my area closed in recent years so it wasn't worth the trip to a further away location to "save" a few pennies. And like r10 said, their prices had been creeping up so the deals weren't really that great anymore anyway although they did have frequent 20% everything sales that could make the trip worthwhile.

I've never been to one and the locations are limited but apparently Ollie's is what Big Lots used to be

My local Big Lots closed a year ago, becoming a Barnes & Noble. They were steadily going downhill, not replacing inventory as it was sold. Spirit Halloween took over defunct BB&B here (across from the still empty Toys R Us).

Re; Tuesday Morning, I was in a major upscale department store once (back in the 80s) and saw a set of beautiful stainless flatware with polished walnut handles. They were sold in boxes of 4 place settings. They were asking $120.00 per box. I thought that was outlandish (remember, this was 40 years ago), so I just forgot about them as I refused to be price gouged, no matter how much I like something.

Fast forward to the mid 90s I was in Tuesday Morning one day and low and behold there were the same sets of flatware. The price at TM was $25.00 a box. They had 3 left on the shelf and I grabbed all 3. Still using them today. The 3rd box I keep set aside as replacements just in case any of them get lost or damaged. Everybody that sees them always comments on how beautiful they are and where did I get them.

I collect beer steins, both antique and new (if they're elaborate enough and are good enough quality). I found a beautiful huge ornate stein at a TM once that I would have paid up to $250.00 had I seen it somewhere else. TM priced it at $75.00. I snapped that baby up right quick.

The retail Halloween season is really about 2, maybe 3 weeks tops, with an average spend of about $105. Christmas begins in earnest in October, with an average spend of about $902 (according to the National Retail Federation). The difference, and what makes Halloween odd R30, is that it's about 2/3rds on decoration while less than a third of all Christmas spending is on decoration (which is a guesstimate; I couldn't quickly find statistics on the specific decoration spend). All those Santa costumes don't begin to compare to Halloween drag. As a retail consultant, I would tell Spirit that to make Christmas work they'll have to curtail Halloween or wait until Nov 1 to put out Christmas merch, advice I would expect the CEO to ignore as they try, fail, and bankrupt themselves in the process.

I get that their trying to leverage their strength, but to make it work they'll have to set up separate pop-up stores for each holiday, segment their existing stores, or accept that they won't get the early (before Nov. 1) portion of Christmas spend. Part of their success is that the entire store is dedicated to one theme. Putting Christmas merchandise out before Halloween would reduce floor space for Halloween, and on top of that, people really hate seeing Christmas dreck when they're in spooky mode.

If they want to expand, I'd recommend they go after Valentine's day. It's the third-largest retail holiday with an average spend of about $185, but they'd have to offer flowers which is tricky... but they could corner the market on roses making it a must-shop as they peddle cards, balloons (now that Party City is gone) and other useless crap.

It's all very strange. All they do is buy shit other businesses are trying to get rid of. They can't make a profit from that? And they keep blaming it on the post-Covid doldrums.