Bankrupt discount retailer Big Lots Inc. said Dec. 19 it is preparing to begin going-out-of-business sales at all of its remaining stores.
The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September, had entered into an agreement to sell all of its assets and ongoing business operations to Nexus Capital Management LP. The deal was approved by the bankruptcy court in November, but Big Lots now says it does not anticipate completing that deal.
Big Lot says it “continues to work toward completing an alternative going concern transaction with Nexus or another party. The Company’s goal would be to complete a sale by early January.”
Big Lots said that in parallel with those efforts, it is preparing going-out-of-business sales at all remaining stores “to protect the value of its estate.”
“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale. While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process,” Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in a news release,
Big Lots has four stores in Northeast Florida comprising three in Jacksonville and one in St. Augustine. This year it closed stores in Orange Park and Jacksonville Beach.
In its September bankruptcy announcement, Big Lots cited high inflation and interest rates that was “particularly challenging” to its core customers who curbed their discretionary spending on the home and seasonal product categories.
The stores sell furniture, decor, pantry items, kitchenware, pet supplies and more.
The Wall Street Journal reported the company has largely posted consecutive quarterly losses since 2022. It said Big Lots operated more than 1,300 stores in the U.S. as of May, according to a recent SEC filing, down from 1,425 in early 2023.
Los Angeles-based Nexus says it was formed in 2013 “to make opportunistic debt and equity investments in a broad range of companies and industries.”
Among the holdings it lists on its website is Acosta Sales and Marketing, the Jacksonville-based firm that went through a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2020. Its other businesses include FTD, Lamps Plus, Dollar Shave Club, Toms and others.
The company has created a website about the bankruptcy at bigstepforbiglots.com.