A plan to sell Big Lots to another management firm will not be completed as intended. Now the company will start going out of business sales at all remaining locations as it tries to find another buyer.

Big Lots was still trying to find a company to buy the brand, hoping that a deal could be reached by the end of January, but it still plans on starting going-out-of-business sales in the coming days “in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate,” Bruce Thorn, the company’s president and CEO said in a news release.

More than 400 locations already closed this year, Nexstar and The Hill reported. There were still 963 locations open.

The company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, according to Bloomberg.

If the company finds a buyer, Thorn told employees via email that the sales could be reversed.

A “reduction in workforce” will begin next month, The Hill reported.

The company currently has more than 27,000 employees, Bloomberg reported.

Previous coverage:

• Big Lots files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, plans to sell business to private equity firm (Sept. 9, 2024(
• Big Lots to close as many as 315 locations, not 35 (Aug. 6, 2024)
• Big Lots to close 35 to 40 stores in 2024 (July 10, 2024)

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