Struggling closeout retailer Big Lots, already shutting hundreds of stores, postponed releasing its fiscal second-quarter earnings amid speculation it may have to seek bankruptcy protection.
The Columbus, Ohio-based chain — which buys merchandise through closeouts, liquidations and overstocks to offer shoppers bargains — said on Friday it was delaying announcing its financial results until next Thursday. It had been scheduled to report them and hold a conference call Friday morning.
Big Lots didn't provide a reason for the postponement. And the retailer didn't immediately respond to an email from CoStar News asking for a comment on the delay or on a recent report that it was weighing filing for Chapter 11. Last week, Bloomberg News said the home goods retailer, still in a sales slump, was considering seeking bankruptcy protection and looking for investors to bail it out.
The chain first signaled the severity of its financial problems in a June securities filing, where it warned that due to mounting losses there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern. The company said it planned to close 35 to 40 stores this year, out of a fleet of about 1,400 locations. By July, the slated store closings jumped to about 140 stores. In a subsequent regulatory filing, Big Lots said it would shut as many as 315 stores.
This year has proved to be an increasingly challenging one for the retail industry, with a number of bankruptcy filings and store closings now outstripping openings. U.S. retailers have so far announced 5,322 store closings and 4,919 store openings for 2024, up by 137 closures and 109 openings from last week, Coresight Research said in a report released Friday.
In an earlier analysis with data as of Aug. 31, Coresight said that Big Lots' closings will account for an estimated 9.9 million square feet of retail space, part of a total of 83.1 million square feet of closed U.S. retail space this year. In comparison, year-to-date store openings will result in an estimated 82.2 million square feet of new retail space, according to Coresight.
Big Lots also notified state officials in Ohio it was closing down operations at a 3.9 million-square-foot distribution center at 300 Phillipi Road in Columbus. That closing will take place no later than Oct. 31, with nearly 400 workers losing their jobs, according to local media reports.
Chicago-based Oak Street Real Estate Capital acquired the Columbus industrial property — as well as three other distribution centers — from Big Lots for $725 million in 2020 in a sale-leaseback deal.