Big Lots may have secured a lifeline Friday. However, the fate of its operations in Schuylkill County remains unclear.
The retail company – with a store near Frackville and a distribution center near Tremont – has agreed to a sale transaction with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, it announced on Friday afternoon. This deal, which still needs bankruptcy court approval, would see the transfer of all Big Lots assets, including its retail stores, distribution centers, and intellectual property to other retail companies, including Variety Wholesalers Inc.
Variety Wholesalers operates more than 400 brick-and-mortar locations in the Mid Atlantic and Southeast. Those stores include Roses, Roses Express, Maxway, Bill’s Dollar Stores, Super 10, Super Dollar, and Bargain Town.
This deal would have Variety Wholesalers planning to operate 200-400 Big Lots stores under the same brand name. It said it’ll keep two distribution centers operational.
According to the Big Lots website, there are now 904 locations in the US. Big Lots also has five distribution centers: Alabama, Ohio, Oklahoma, California, and in Schuylkill County.
“Variety Wholesalers may employ Big Lots associates at the acquired stores and distribution centers, as well as certain corporate associates needed to support the go-forward footprint,” BIg Lots says in its statement on Friday.
Earlier this week, we reported that 505 employees at the Big Lots Distribution Center in Schuylkill County received WARN Notices, letting them know of their impending layoff. Whether those jobs will now be saved because of this pending sales agreement is unknown at this point.
Big Lots is Schuylkill County’s 15th largest employer, per data collected earlier this year by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Labor & Industry.
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