Variety Wholesalers Inc., the discount retailer that acquired hundreds of Big Lots stores out of bankruptcy, is already closing locations in at least three states, raising fresh doubts about the chain's long-term survival.
Four Big Lots stores across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina have either shut their doors or are scheduled to close in the coming weeks, The U.S. Sun reported. The closures come after Variety Wholesalers remodeled, restocked, and reopened the locations in four separate waves following the chain's September 2024 bankruptcy filing.
Big Lots told local ABC affiliate WHTM that the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania closure was "not part of a company-wide or division-wide store closing initiative." Variety Wholesalers did not respond to The U.S. Sun's request for comment.
The Lancaster County store, located at 389 North Reading Road in Ephrata Plaza, closed permanently on a recent Sunday. A Big Lots location at 1432 East Dixie Drive in Asheboro, North Carolina, also shut its doors recently.
Two more South Carolina stores are on the chopping block. Workers at those locations revealed the planned closures on social media. A company memo shared to Reddit's r/BigLots forum indicated the Greenwood, South Carolina store at 339 By-pass 72 NW is expected to close September 12. A West Columbia location at 3230 Augusta Road is also slated to close, though no specific date has been announced.
Big Lots currently operates 217 stores, a fraction of the chain's former footprint.
Online reviews from customers paint a bleak picture of what Variety Wholesalers inherited. One shopper who visited two Pennsylvania locations after they reopened posted on Reddit:
"I've been in two stores in PA since they reopened. There seems to be more clothing, and just less variety of everything else."
The same shopper continued, describing a gutted product selection and a furniture section barely worth the floor space:
"Just one brand of anything they offer, and usually not the best brand (but a workable one). The furniture section was even more laughable than it usually is, with just one each of about a dozen different things. I left both stores without any need to ever go back."
Photos posted to the chain's official Facebook page showed products being sold directly out of shipping boxes. Other images captured sales signs handwritten with marker on printer paper, hardly the polished retail experience Variety Wholesalers promised when it said it wanted to appeal to a higher-end demographic.
The company did post a Facebook photo earlier this month showing a neatly organized Halloween decorations display, suggesting at least some locations are getting attention. But that single curated image sits alongside a growing pile of customer complaints and store closings.
Big Lots filed for bankruptcy in September 2024. Liquidation firm Gordon Brothers Retail Partners acquired the chain during the proceedings and transferred hundreds of locations to Variety Wholesalers Inc., a North Carolina-based discount retailer that also operates the Roses and Maxway chains. Variety Wholesalers runs more than 400 discount stores across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The deal was framed as a lifeline. Hundreds of stores that faced permanent shutdown got a second chance under new ownership. Variety Wholesalers invested in remodeling and restocking, then reopened locations in four waves.
But the company's stated ambition to move Big Lots upmarket clashes with what shoppers are finding on the ground. Thin inventory, improvised signage, and a shrinking store count do not suggest a retailer pivoting toward a more discerning customer. They suggest a company struggling to keep the lights on.
Big Lots insists the Lancaster County closure was an isolated decision, not part of a broader shutdown. Yet closures in three states, confirmed through company memos, social media posts from employees, and local news reports, tell a different story, or at least raise questions the company has so far declined to answer.
Variety Wholesalers has not explained why any of the individual stores are closing. The total number of locations shuttered since the acquisition remains unclear. How many of the "hundreds" of rescued stores are still operating is a question the company has not addressed publicly.
Rescuing a bankrupt retailer sounds good in a press release. Keeping it alive requires inventory, customers, and a plan that works beyond the ribbon-cutting, and right now, the evidence on the shelves is thin.