If you live near a Big Lots store, you can’t help but become a regular customer. You can always find a wide variety of brand name products there for less money than you would pay at other stores. When I was shopping for a new shaver for my retired uncle, the local Rite Aid® had a Norelco® model (his preferred brand) for about $70.00. Right next door at Big Lots, I found a Norelco shaver for just $25.00.What a deal! And that’s just one example of how to save money by shopping at Big Lots stores!
This birth of this chain of discount stores goes all the way back to 1967. A businessman by the name of Sol Shenk, who had experience in the manufacturing of auto parts, founded a corporation in Columbus, Ohio that he named “Consolidated Stores Corporation.” The corporation opened the doors of its first “Odd Lots” store in 1982. As its name indicated, the store specialized in closeout products. Customers could find an array of odd and ends products there at discount prices.
The following year, the Revco company purchased the Odd Lots® store. Then, in 1985, Shenk opened up his first Big Lots store. In 1989, Sol Shenk, who was the “Chairman Emeritus” and the founder of Big Lots, retired. The store continued to be successful, and in 1993, it hit a milestone: Big Lots celebrated its “first billion-dollar year.”
At the start of the New Millennium, Michael Potter took over the helm of the Big Lots company when he became the Chairman and CEO. In 2002, the company name was changed to “Big Lots Incorporated.
In the next few years, Big Lots responded to customers’ demands when they opened up nearly ninety additional retail stores, remodeled over two hundred of their current stores, and enlarged their furniture departments.
Steven S. Fishman became the Chairman, CEO, and President of Big Lots Incorporated in 2005.
Today, the Big Lots corporation continues to make money by saving its customers loads of money on many closeout and overstock products. The corporation is still based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns and operates more than 1,400 retail stores in 47 states across the map. Big Lots employs 45,000+ associates.
Big Lots, Incorporated (NYSE: BIG) is a “Fortune 500” company that boasts annual revenues in excess of four billion dollars. The company’s success has made it the “largest closeout retailer” in the United States.
By shopping at Big Lots stores, you will always find their prices to be an average of 20 to 40 percent lower than other retailers. At their many discount stores that dot the United States, you can save money by shopping for food and other grocery store-items, housewares, pet supplies, tools, seasonal products, clothing, electronics, toys, glassware, collectibles, greeting cards, stationery items, and even furniture.
Shopping at a local Big Lots store is kind of like a Treasure Hunt because they change their inventory constantly. So you never know what you’re going to find there. One thing is for sure, though, you’re going to save money!
