Big Retail Chain With 29 Illinois Spots Closing 40 Stores In 2024

You know things aren't looking good for a national store chain when they say that they plan to close three times as many stores this year than they'll open because their customer base is cutting back on spending.

It's also not really encouraging to hear that even doing that might not be enough for the company to continue being a "going concern."

For those who may be unfamiliar with that term, according to Investopedia.com, a "going concern" is an accounting term that means a company is financially stable and expected to continue operating. The term also refers to a company's ability to make enough money to keep operating and avoiding bankruptcy.

The company we're talking about features this slogan: Save Big. Save Lots.

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Big Lots Has Almost 1,400 (1,398) Stores Spread Across The Country, With 29 Of Them Being Here In Illinois, And 12 In Wisconsin

According to an SEC filing from last month, Big Lots, which was founded here in the Midwest 50 years ago, expects to close between 35 and 40 stores across the nation this year.

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.

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Big Lots Reported Sales Figures Of $1 Billion Dollars In The First Quarter Of This Year, Which Is Down Over 10 Percent From The Same Time Last Year

As I said before, Big Lots has not yet released the names, locations, or scheduled closing dates of the 35-40 stores they'll be shutting down, but that information should be out in the near future.

Here are the current Big Lots locations in Illinois: