Big Lots to close dozens of stores around California, including Bay Area locations

Big Lots, a bargain box store well known for seemingly random household items and curiosities, has announced it will close dozens of stores across California this year, including several locations around the Bay Area.

The company decided to close 35 to 40 stores across California in June, but notices across the company’s many locations’ websites shows more than 50 stores in the state will close this year, the L.A. Times reported. 

This will include the closing of stores in Gilroy, Livermore, Manteca, Merced, Milpitas, Modesto, Salinas, Stockton, Tracy, Vacaville and more.

Noted in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report filed earlier this year, the Columbus, Ohio-based company faced $205 million in losses at the end of the fiscal quarter in May.

The SEC filing mentions net sales for Big Lots decreased $114.5 million, or 10.2%, in the first quarter of 2024.

The company’s home product sales, including furniture and seasonal products, were particularly impacted by “macroeconomic pressures affecting our customers’ discretionary spending,” documents say. This is directly affected by a “decrease in demand for large-ticket products as customers remain cautious with discretionary spending.”

Elsewhere in the state, stores will close in Bakersfield, Sacramento, Simi Valley, Culver City, Delano and more.

“Due to ongoing negative macroeconomic factors and their uncertain impacts on the company’s business, results of operations, and cash flows,” Big Lots expects to experience even more losses this year, the SEC filing said.

This negative trend in Big Lots’ finances “raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Big Lots “is also seeking to further monetize assets, such as its remaining owned real estate property, through outright sale or sale and leaseback opportunities,” according to the SEC filing.