Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is a Fortune 500 retail corporation with annual revenues
well over $4 billion. Its department stores focus mainly on selling closeout
and overstock merchandise. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio, USA, and currently
operates over 1,400 stores in 47 states.
A typical store sells
a wide variety of merchandise, including toys, furniture, clothing, housewares,
and small electronics. Most of the items sold in these stores are purchased
as they become available. What's in the store one day may not be there the next,
and the store may not get further shipments of the items. Most of the merchandise
in the stores are closeouts and overstocks. However there are some items
in the stores, such as foodstuffs, that are replenished on a continual basis.
In many cases, Big Lots uses an existing building, such as a grocery or department
store that had either moved or ceased operations.
The Big Lots
chain traces its history back to 1967, when Consolidated Stores Corporation
was formed in Ohio by Sol Shenk. In 1982, Consolidated Stores Corp. opened its
first closeout store, called Odd Lots, in Columbus, Ohio. In 1983, drug store
chain Revco bought Consolidated Stores Corp. to prevent a hostile takeover of Revco.
However, Revco soon lost focus on its core drug store operations and earnings
tumbled, forcing Revco to jettison Consolidated Stores Corp. In 1985, Consolidated
Stores Corp. began trading as a separate public company on the American
Stock Exchange. |
