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!" – and Big Lots is now poised to re-open for business to the public on Thursday.
Monday morning, the shelves were re-stocked and shopping carts were parked in the atrium area of the entrance, ready for customers to begin using on Thursday when the doors open at 10 a.m. Big Lots has been located in Statesboro Square for more than two decades.
The store has held several “hiring events” and anyone interested in applying for a job can stop by the store Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., or search “Big Lots Jobs” online.
A Big Lots bankruptcy filing in February indicated the leases for 219 Big Lots were being transferred to Variety Wholesalers, and the Statesboro store was on that list. North Carolina-based Variety, which owns more than 400 discount stores in the U.S. 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 are scheduled to open across nine states on Thursday. Along with Statesboro, Georgia stores in Covington and LaGrange will reopen 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.
After that announcement, the Statesboro store took down its holiday season sale signs and a “CLOSING” sign was posted at the entrance, along with additional store closing and discount signs. The closing sign remained up until all inventory was sold or removed and the doors were locked, seemingly for good, in March.
The leases on the other 687 Big Lots stores in 47 states were 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.
