Dec 21, 2024
T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH The Party City store at the Ohio Valley Plaza in St. Clairsville is open and serving customers Friday as multiple news outlets reported that all stores in the chain will close.
BRIDGEPORT — More retailers will be closing their doors in the local area and across the country in the coming weeks.
Big Lots plans to start going-out-of-business sales at its stores “in the coming days” after a planned purchase by a California investment firm fell through.
Columbus-based Big Lots Inc. entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in September to facilitate a transaction in which an affiliate of Nexus Capital Management would acquire virtually all of the company’s assets and ongoing business operations.
But on Thursday, Big Lots announced in a news release that it “does not anticipate completing its previously announced asset purchase agreement” and “is preparing to commence going out of business sales at all remaining Big Lots store locations in the coming days to protect the value of its estate.”
However, the release notes the company will continue to work toward completing a transaction, whether with Nexus or another party. It says the going-out-of-business sales should not preclude such a transaction.
“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale,” Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in the release. “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 stores in Bridgeport, Moundsville and Wintersville were among those listed in the company’s latest filing as planned for closure.
Big Lots sells furniture, home decor and other items. According to the company’s website, discounts of up to 50% were being offered on the entire assortment of goods.
Big Lots said it is continuing to serve customers in-store and online, and will provide updates as available.
Big Lots has said that high inflation and interest rates have hurt its business as consumers have pulled back on their home and seasonal product purchases, two categories the chain depends on for a significant part of its revenue. The company has also struggled with increased competition from the likes of Walmart and warehouse clubs like Walmart’s Sam’s Clubs and Costco, which have all sharpened their pricing and merchandise.
At the end of 2023, Big Lots operated nearly 1,400 stores in 48 states. A more recent store count wasn’t immediately available.
Meanwhile, CNN and other national news outlets reported that Party City will be closing all of its more than 700 stores after nearly 40 years in business.
CEO Barry Litwin reportedly told corporate employees Friday in a meeting viewed by CNN that Party City is “winding down” operations immediately and that Friday would be their last day of employment. “That is without question the most difficult message that I’ve ever had to deliver,” Litwin said at the meeting, which was held on a video conference call.
Although Party City exited bankruptcy proceedings in September, its “very best efforts have not been enough to overcome” its financial challenges, he said.
A clerk at the Party City store at the Ohio Valley Plaza in St. Clairsville said Friday afternoon that the staff there had no information about the planned closing.
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