A little more than five months after posting “Going Out of Business” signs and about three months after turning the lights out seemingly for good, Big Lots in the Statesboro Square Shopping Center reopened Thursday morning.
Shoppers Thursday found a similar-looking store to the one that was cleaned out in March, but with a new shine and more open space. Big Lots has been located in Statesboro Square for more than two decades.
Ivory Tate and Mary Williams, who described themselves as “regular Big Lots shoppers” before it closed, were happy to see the store return.
“I had heard they were coming back, but I didn’t believe it,” Tate said. “We live close by, so it’s real easy to get here. I think their prices are pretty good.”
Big Lots filed for bankruptcy last year and in one of the February court documents it was announced that the leases for 219 Big Lots had been transferred to Variety Wholesalers, including the lease for the Statesboro store. North Carolina-based Variety, which owns more than 400 discount stores in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, announced they would reopen and operate them under the Big Lots brand.
Variety has been reopening the 219 stores in phases, with the Big Lots next to Ocean Galley restaurant in the fourth and final phase as 78 Big Lots that opened across nine states on Thursday. Along with Statesboro, Georgia stores in Covington and LaGrange reopened Thursday.
In May, Big Lots re-opened Georgia stores in Augusta, Brunswick, Cornelia, Fort Oglethorpe, Valdosta, Buford, Dallas, Marietta, Smyrna, Vidalia and Waycross.
The discount chain filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2024 and announced just before Christmas it would hold “going-out-of-business” sales at its remaining stores. At that time, there were 869 Big Lots stores operating around the nation.
Last December, less than a week before Christmas, “Going Out of Business” signs were posted at the entrance to the Big Lots store in the Statesboro Square Shopping Center. Liquidation sales were held and the store was cleared out of merchandise by the end of February.
But in mid-April, a large sign was posted on the front-entrance windows – "The Comeback Starts Soon!"
The leases on the other 687 Big Lots stores in 47 states are listed for sale. So far, the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet chain has purchased 63 of the stores and has announced plans to rebrand those stores as Ollie’s. Ollie’s operates a store in the College Plaza shopping center in Statesboro.
