Big Discount Retailer Closes 3 Of Their 29 Illinois Stores

According to an SEC filing from last month, Big Lots, which was founded here in the Midwest (Columbus, Ohio) 50 years ago, said that they expect to close between 35 and 40 stores across the nation this year.

They also said that they plan to open 3 new ones, but there has been no announcement as to where those stores will be located, or when it will happen.

The problems that Big Lots is having are pretty much the same problems we're hearing about when other retailers and restaurants make announcements about possible closures and bankruptcies: high inflation, lower purchasing power, and an overall decline in spending by their customer base.

And, it seems as though Big Lots may close more than the 35-40 stores they talked about in June when all this news broke.

In June, Big Lots Announced That They'd Suffered A Net Loss Of $205 Million In The First Quarter Of This Year, And That There Was A "Significant Likelihood" That They Won't Be Able To Live Up To The Terms Of Their Credit Agreement

That's a word-salad that we've all heard too many times at this point. It's a roundabout way of saying "We're going to start closing stores to stay afloat, and we really hope we don't end up closing them all."

At this point, Big Lots has not released a master list of the stores that they're planning on shuttering forever, but signs that say "Closing this location," and "Save Up To 20% Off" have been seen both in Big Lots stores and on store web pages across the country, including Illinois.

According to TheHill.com:

Many stores have banners on their web pages that read “closing this location” while alerting customers they could “save up to 20% off.” Among those are roughly 60 of the 109 Big Lots stores in California, according to KTXL.

As of Tuesday, Nexstar found 89 additional stores across 27 states with closure notices on their web pages.

60 of 109 California stores? 89 additional stores? I'm no math expert, but that's way more than the 35-40 Big Lots stores being closed they initially talked about.

Let's Get To The Illinois Big Lots Stores That Are Being "Slated For Closure"

Apparently, these locations have not permanently shut their doors, but will be doing so in the very near future, according to the Big Lots Store Locator:

• 1608 N Larkin Ave., Crest Hill
• 340 Summit Drive, Lockport
• 7233 W Dempster St., Niles

Those closures will leave Illinois with these locations still open:

• Alton
• Bourbonnais
• Burbank
• Calumet City
• Centralia
• Champaign
• Country Club Hills
• Danville
• Decatur
• East Peoria
• Elgin
• Fairview Heights
• Franklin Park
• Galesburg
• Machesney Park
• Mattoon
• Moline
• Mount Vernon
• Oakbrook Terrace
• Peoria
• Peru
• Quincy
• Round Lake Beach
• Springfield
• Wood Dale