Big Lots went belly up last year because it chased away budget-conscious customers with high prices and pushed merchandise they didn’t want, the discount retailer’s new owner told The Post.
The once-popular close-out sale chain declared bankruptcy last September after 57 years in business and abruptly shuttered all 1,392 stores, blaming “high inflation” and the inability of its “core customers’” to buy discretionary goods.
“The former Big Lots got too expensive and the assortment wasn’t everyday,” said Lisa Seigies, chief executive of Variety Wholesalers, a discount retailer that bought Big Lots out of bankruptcy in January and is reopening some of the shuttered stores.
What’s more, shopping at Big Lots wasn’t a fun shopping experience anymore where customers found items they didn’t know they wanted or needed.
“We are creating a treasure hunt where we don’t reorder the same items,” Seigies told The Post.
Variety Wholesalers of Henderson, NC is no novice in the bargain business. It owns 400 stores that operate under the Roses Discount Stores and Maxway brands.
Variety acquired Big Lots’ intellectual property and 219 stores and is executing a turnaround plan.
Seigies pointed to the previous management’s decision to lean into a so-called “high-low” pricing strategy that resembled a “moderately priced” department store rather than a close-out sale retailer.
Another major gaffe, according to Seigies, was devoting the front of its stores to furniture that too few customers wanted after the pandemic ended.
“People don’t need furniture every day,” the executive said. “That hurt them.”
Instead, Variety has reconfigured the roughly 60 stores it has reopened in southeast states since last month. Shoppers walking through the doors are now greeted with apparel from known brands that include Joe Boxer, Fruit of the Loom, US Polo Assn, Wrangler and Bebe.
The new merchandise is priced at “everyday low prices. There is no sale tomorrow. It is what it is,” Seigies said.
House furnishings can still be found in the store, but they have been relegated to the back, she added.
Despite the rush to reopen the stores, they are just 70% stocked.
Customers looking for garden and summer supplies will find scant offerings as orders for that merchandise had to be placed a year ago – well before Variety Wholesalers knew it would be acquiring Big Lots.
Grand Opening promotions will be taking place in the fall when the stores will be stocked with seasonal goods, including Halloween and Christmas goods, Seigies said.
Variety Wholesalers brought most of this merchandise over before the tariffs hit, loading up inventory in anticipation of its negotiations to acquire Big Lots being successful.
“The tariffs are not reflected in our prices yet,” Seigies said.
