Franklin’s Big Lots store is among the seven or so Indiana stores the discount retailer plans to close. Jayden Kennett | Daily Journal
Big Lots is closing its Franklin location as the chain continues to feel impacts from a pullback in consumer spending and soft sales.
In a court filing Friday, attorneys for the Columbus, Ohio-based discount retailer announced the closings of an additional 56 stores across the country. Three Indiana locations were included on the list: Franklin, 1538 N. Morton St., and stores in New Haven and New Albany, the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Delaware shows.
No information on when the Franklin store would close is provided in the filing. The store’s public webpage doesn’t list it as closing yet either. However, two store associates confirmed they were told the store would close Nov. 18.
The number of jobs affected is also unknown, as there are no filings with this information available. A request for information made by the Daily Journal to Big Lots’ corporate communications team on the store closing was not returned by press time.
Big Lots, which sells furniture, home decor and other items, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early September, concurrently announcing a plan to sell its assets and ongoing business operations to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management. Company officials said in a statement at the time that high inflation and interest rates had 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.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, have declined for nine straight quarters, according to FactSet.
Company officials said that Big Lots’ performance has been improving, but that its board determined during a strategic review that the proposed sale to Nexus was the right move for the business.
The company will continue to sell goods at its stores and on its website during the court-supervised sale process. In September, Big Lots officials said they do plan to close some stores, but didn’t specify how many or what locations would be impacted. At the end of 2023, Big Lots operated nearly 1,400 stores in 48 states.
Since July, closures have been announced for hundreds of Big Lots stores across the country. In Indiana, seven stores are set to close, with one of them already closed, WISH-TV reported.
With the impending closure of the Franklin store, there will not be a Big Lots in Johnson County. However, four nearby stores have not yet been listed among the ones set to be closed in court filings:
- 1650 E. County Line Road, Indianapolis
- 5520 Madison Ave., Indianapolis
- 3075 E. 25th St., Columbus
- 1840 E. Michigan Road, Shelbyville.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
