Discount retail chain Big Lots is now preparing to hold going out of business sales ahead of closing all of its remaining stores, including its last location in Minnesota.
The Ohio-based company announced Thursday that its sale to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management had fallen through. While Big Lots says it will continue to look for paths to a sale to Nexus or another party, the company is now looking at closing its doors at its remaining stores.
Big Lots also plans to hold going out of business sales at more than 900 remaining locations in coming days. The company says the sales are meant to “protect the value of its estate.”
This will include its store in Blaine, which is its last location in Minnesota after it closed its Albert Lea store earlier this year.
“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale. While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process,” Bruce Thorn, Big Lots’ President and CEO, said in a statement.