Big Lots Focuses on Expansion, Prime Locations

Big Lots Focuses on Expansion, Prime Locations
April 07, 2009

Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots Inc. will open a 35,000-sq.-ft. store in Ohio near the Polaris Fashion Place mall, in a former Linens 'n Things Inc. storefront, according to Business First of Columbus. The Polaris Parkway store, expected to open in May, is the fruit of Big Lots' real estate strategy, which preached patience on expansion as the company restructured behind the scenes. Now the company is poised to secure prime locations at lowered prices as retailers shutter stores and rents fall in a retail industry contraction. Those opportunities will mean more Big Lots stores opening in 2009 than in the previous three years combined, and net store growth for the first time since 2004. The company has 45 stores set to open and 40 closings scheduled for the 1,339-unit chain. The new stores will be throughout the country, but mostly along the coasts--regions that were among the most difficult places to get leases at prices sought by Big Lots, Chuck Haubiel, legal and real estate senior vice president, said in a conference call on March 4. The Polaris store will be one of five that will test a new look and layout. The stores will be centered around a hexagon displaying groceries, health and beauty products, and other goods found in supermarkets and drugstores. Outside the hexagon, shoppers will pass seasonal items, toys, furniture and home goods. Another new layout, designed for existing stores, is being tested at Big Lots' 13 Central Ohio stores and will expand to 60 more. Like the Polaris initiative, the layout moves the food and grocery section, which accounts for 30 percent of sales, to prominent space in the middle of the store.