Updated to include offers deadine being moved to Feb. 17.
Variety Wholesalers could be taking over 200 Big Lots stores, including 14 in Tennessee - but not the ones in Oak Ridge and Clinton.
Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, the Boston-based asset liquidation firm assisting Big Lots in the bankruptcy process, provided a list of 200 locations with leases or contracts designated to be taken over by Variety Wholesalers, in a court filing Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
USA Today reported the news and the list of 200 stores that the Hendersonville, North Carolina-based Variety Wholesalers will take over. The Big Lots stores listed in the court filing are in 14 states with the most stores listed in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, plus additional locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and West Virginia.
The Tennessee stores to be taken over by Variety include one at 4825 N. Broadway St. in Knoxville, and others in Tullahoma, Columbia, Clarksville, Cleveland, Dickson, Gallatin, Greeneville, Johnson City, Jefferson City, Morristown, Murfreesboro, Rogersville and Sevierville.
Variety Wholesalers owns more than 400 stores in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast; among the chains it operates are Roses Discount stores, Roses Express, Maxway, Bill's Dollar Stores and Bargain Town.
As reported in The Oak Ridger earlier, Boston-based Gordon Brothers is selling the leases of many Big Lots stores across the nation ? including the stores in Oak Ridge and Clinton, as well as several others across Tennessee. It's a sign that those stores are among those likely to close, USA TODAY reported. The deadline to submit offers has been extended from Feb. 10 to Feb. 17, according to informaton posted to the Gordon Brothers website.
The leases for the Oak Ridge and Clinton stores end on Jan. 31, 2030, according to a brochure on the website of Gordon Brothers. There is a five-year option listed for the Clinton store. Other details on the stores from that brochure:
No dates have been given for the final store closures. The Big Lots closing discounts now go as high as 40% off at the stores and on their websites.
"All offers for individual or multiple location purchases are due no later than Feb. 10, 2025, and are subject to court approval," the Gordon Brothers website states.
Big Lots, based in Columbus, Ohio, anounced Dec. 19 that all Big Lots stores would begin going out of business sales. As reported earlier in The Oak Ridger, At the time, Big Lots officials stated in a news release that they did not have any plans to close all of its stores yet. The going out of business sales were described as a way for the company to "protect the value of its estate," and allow Big Lots to continue being a company that was financially stable enough to meet obligations and continue business in the near future.
In addition to the stores listed, lease agreements are up for sale for Big Lots stores in the following Tennessee cities: Alcoa, Athens, Bristol, Chattanooga, Cookeville, Crossville, Dyersburg, Elizabethton, Hermitage, Jackson, Kingsport, Lawrenceburg, Lebanon, McMinnville, Memphis, Millington, Smyrna and Springfield.
The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed.
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