Big Lots is preparing to start going out of business sales in the coming days. The bankrupt retailer announced in a notice to the state they plan to close more than 900 locations and in Ohio lay off 555 employees.

The Columbus-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in September and started announcing store closures in October when another 400 Ohio-based employees were laid off.

What You Need To Know

  • Big Lots announced it’s terminating more than 500 employees at it’s Columbus-based headquarters
  • The discount retailer sent a notice to the state Thursday

  • Big Lots has been around for 57 years

  • The notice states that the mass layoffs will take place during the week of Dec. 29 and will be complete in April

This all comes at a time when many large companies, like Amazon and Intel, are setting roots in Central Ohio. 

“Their luck ran out,” said Michael Goldberg, a professor in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. “They were not able to compete against Amazon and Target and Walmart and others. And I think the entrepreneurial story in Ohio remains strong. There’s always going to be folks that see a market niche. It doesn’t mean that you can’t compete with the big players if you can find an opportunity. I think unfortunately for Big Lots, the clock ran out as they tried to continue to, to pivot their business and compete against these bigger players.”

Goldberg said he doesn’t think it’s impossible for smaller businesses to compete moving forward. He said so many people during the pandemic were purchasing goods online but yet today in-person retail is still strong. 

“So many people, I think were thinking, ‘Hey, Amazon is just going to wipe out traditional retail,’ and that hasn’t happened,” Goldberg said. “I think there’s a lot of interesting examples across sectors where local retail has been able to have a foothold. They’ve got a differentiated product in the market and build loyalty. So, I think we’ve seen these cycles before where large companies come in and, and build a following, but there’s always going to be room for those upstarts.”

Goldberg said it’s still a relatively tight labor market, so the hope is that the laid-off employees will be quickly absorbed into other companies or maybe they’ll go start their own. 

Big Lots has been around for 57 years. The company went from having 1,400 locations in its prime to now fewer than a thousand. 

The notice states that this next round of mass layoffs will take place during the week of Dec. 29 and will be complete in April.