After Chapter 11 bankruptcy, discount retailer makes big return

It seems like when a retailer has a big name, it's really hard to keep it closed for long.

Mar 9, 2025 - 15:07

After Chapter 11 bankruptcy, discount retailer makes big return

Big-name retail brands now act like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees. Sure, they seem dead, but no matter how many pieces you hack them into, they come back for more.

While not every retail brand comes back, it seems like a Chapter 11 bankruptcy or even a Chapter 7 liquidation can't keep a popular brand name down. Companies recognize that it's easier to market Bed, Bath, and Beyond to consumers than Overstock.com, even if the two companies don't really sell the same things.

There's equity in familiarity even if that familiarity ended badly. Consumers, it seems, don't remember Toys R Us for its terrible slow death at the hands of hedge fund ghouls. Instead, they remember the fun times they had visiting the chain as children.

In many ways, it's like buying a house where a famous murder took place. Yes, it might be creepy, but everyone will be able to easily find you.

It used to be that chains would close and their intellectual property would get auctioned off. Then, months, maybe years, later, the brand would return in a much-diminished fashion.

Names like Sharper Image, and the previously referenced Toys R Us, for example, still exist, but they're not what they once were.

Another recently bankrupt retailer has barely had time to get cold in its grave, but it's set for a surprisingly large comeback.

Big Lots stores are well into their going-out-business sales.
Image source: Shutterstock.

Popular discount retailer won't stay dead

When you visit the Big Lots website, it clearly says that all stores are closing and final sales are happening now. If you visit a Big Lots location, it's either already closed or headed toward that direction with shelves getting close to bare.

Many stores have already begun selling their fixtures. That's a bit like burning down a farm then salting the ground to make it hard for anything to ever grow there.

The chain's website is still operational, but some pages no longer work, and the company seems well on its way to winding down.

Big Lots, however, won't stay dead for long. When then chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Sept. it shared that it was negotiating with at least one company to keep some stores open.

That's a common line in a bankruptcy filing for a large retailer, but it's very rare that reopening plans are in place before the bankrupt company has fully closed. Big Lots, for example, has not even taken down (or changed) its corporate website, which still contains the hopeful mantra:

"As a unique, non-traditional, discount retailer, our goal is to build upon this leadership position by expanding our market presence. Our strength in merchandising, purchasing, site selection, distribution, and cost-containment have positioned us for continued expansion and profitable growth for our shareholders."

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That ship has, of course, sailed, as Big Lots enters its final death throes.

Big Lots, however, simply won't stay dead.

Big Lots reopening plans are underway

Variety Wholesalers, a name you don't know which operates "422 stores in the Southeast, primary under the Roses and Roses Express banners," has acquired the right to reopen 200-400 Big Lots locations.

Big Lots and Roses do seem to have some similar DNA.

"Roses Discount Stores is a super-regional retail chain founded in 1915 by Paul Howard Rose and headquartered in Henderson, NC. In 1997, Variety Wholesalers, Inc. purchased Roses. Variety Wholesalers, Inc. is a family owned business that began in 1922. In 1949, John W. Pope took over his family’s “Five and Dime” stores, eventually growing them into one of the largest privately owned companies in the United States," it shared on its LinkedIn page.

The new owner has already begun reopening some closed Big Lots locations. Variety has already begun reopening some Big Lots locations which the new owner is calling "soft openings."

That makes Big Lots the rare retailer to be going out of business at the same time it's also reopening. The newly-revived locations will be primarily in the south and midwest.

Variety Wholesalers has not shared which stores it will reopen. But, work has begun on locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.