Big Lots closing 2 Long Island stores as troubled discounter tries to cut costs

Two Big Lots stores on Long Island are among the approximately 40 that the troubled discount retailer will close this year.

The stores in Centereach, at 231 Centereach Mall, and Carle Place, at 260 Voice Rd., are closing and having sales of up to 20% off, according to Big Lots’ website.

Columbus, Ohio-headquartered Big Lots Inc. did not immediately respond to inquiries about how many jobs will be affected and the timing of the Long Island store closings.

But an employee at the Centereach store said that location is expected to close at the end of August.

An employee at the Carle Place store said workers there were unsure when the store will close.

The Centereach store, which opened in 2003, occupies 33,600 square feet, said Daniel Glazer, executive vice president at Ripco Real Estate LLC, the Woodbury firm marketing the Centereach Square shopping center.

The 31,698-square-foot Carle Place store opened in 2004. 

Big Lots has five other stores on Long Island — in Bay Shore, Copiague, Hicksville, Holbrook and West Babylon.

The chain sells housewares, furniture, groceries, toys, personal care items and other goods.

Big Lots is trying to cut costs by closing underperforming stores, selling assets and offering customers more bargains as its losses mount.

The publicly traded company plans to close 35 to 40 stores in 2024, the company reported in its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June.

Big Lots had 1,392 stores as of May 4, the end of its fiscal first quarter, according to the filing.

The retailer had a net loss of $205 million in that quarter and a net loss of $481.9 million in fiscal 2023.

Big Lots improved its business operations in its first quarter, but it missed its sales goals, mostly due to its core customers spending less, particularly on high-ticket, nonessential merchandise, Bruce Thorn, the retailer's president and CEO, told analysts during an earnings call on June 6.

Declining consumer confidence due to concerns about inflation, unemployment and interest rates was among the causes, he said.

“Also, personal saving rates have been declining, while credit card balances have grown, indicating the pressure our core consumer is under as they try to manage their strained budgets,” Thorn said. 

An analyst cited other causes of Big Lots' woes.

One of the retailer’s main issues is that it doesn’t offer enough bargains on its merchandise, so the prices are often beaten by those of Walmart and Target, said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at Manhattan-based market research firm GlobalData.

Also, Big Lots buys a lot of closeout merchandise that is not of high quality or in a wide enough assortment, he said.

“It’s all a bit hit or miss,” he said.

Not only is Big Lots struggling more to draw shoppers but it also risks running out of cash because of high debt, which would lead to a bankruptcy filing, Saunders said.

“They’re in a very difficult position at the moment. Sales are declining very strongly. They have a lot of debt. They’re making huge losses,” he said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.