How has Ollie's done after buying Big Lots stores in Indiana and elsewhere?
Early returns have been positive after acquiring 18 stores from Big Lots, which filed for bankruptcy in 2024, Ollie's CEO said. Those locations include a store in Warsaw, Indiana, at 2806 Frontage Road.
Between January and May, Ollie's opened 25 new stores – including the former Big Lots locations – throughout the country, a record for the Pennsylvania-based retailer.
Earlier this year, Ollie's acquired 40 Big Lots locations through auction, as the latter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2024. As of May 3, Ollie's operates 584 stores in 32 states.
"These stores are off to a very strong start," Ollie's CEO Eric van der Valk said of the new stores during an earnings call on June 3. "We appear to be benefiting from the fact that these are warm boxes, with a built-in discount customer shopping base, which was our hypothesis going in."
In addition to the new store openings, Ollie's experienced a 13.4% increase in sales during its first quarter, a total revenue of $576.8 million, according to a news release.
With the slogan "Good Stuff Cheap," Ollie's is a discount retailer that offers closeout and excess inventory for lower prices. The retailer sells items like clothing, home goods, toys, hardware, food and books.
Take a look at the 25 new Ollie's locations that have opened so far this year, including which ones are former Big Lots stores:
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