Big Lots to close stores in Fort Collins, 3 other Colorado cities

FORT COLLINS — Retail giant Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is closing stores in Fort Collins and three other Colorado cities.

The stores are expected to close by Jan. 15, or sooner as inventories are cleared.

Other Colorado locations to be closed include:

• Arvada: 8125 Sheridan Blvd.
• Denver: 7475 E. Iliff Ave.
• Englewood: 139 W. Hampden Ave.

The closures — along with others around the country — come after Big Lots reported a loss of $103 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year.

“The third quarter marks another quarter in which we met the challenges of a tough environment head on and did what we said we would do,” Big Lots president and CEO Bruce Thorn said in an earnings release. “Our sales and gross margin were in line with guidance, and importantly, year-over-year inventories continued to come down materially.

“Going forward, we will build on the significant progress we have achieved in strengthening our business model. These efforts will enable us to better adapt to continuously evolving customer needs, build upon our core competencies and deliver incredible value.”

Big Lots in early 2022 announced plans to open 500 new stores over several years, but the emphasis changed at the end of the year. Chief financial officer Jonathan Ramsden said in a Dec. 1 conference call that Big Lots anticipated closing underperforming stores.

“With regard to closures, we do have an accelerated number of closures this year, which is driven both by selling out right a number of our store sites, which will, as we talked about, yield some fairly significant proceeds in Q4. And then there are other stores that are underperforming stores that we look to accelerate the closure of. So the closures this year will end up being somewhat higher than openings.”

Big Lots is not the only Fort Collins retail store closing. Macy’s is closing its 128,000-square-foot store in the Foothills shopping center.

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