ANOTHER ONE GONE
Big Lots and Dollar Tree to close down over 1,500 locations in huge retail bloodbath dominating store closures in 2025
Read on to find out what hit the retail sector has faced this time
RETAIL is taking another heavy hit this year, as both Big Lots and Dollar Tree announce massive store closures.
This crisis continues the bloodbath the sector has been facing recently, with underperforming locations and rising costs crippling huge brands.
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On Wednesday, Dollar Tree said it plans to close 1,000 stores over the next several years, per CBS News.
Dollar Tree reported a massive loss on its end of year earnings report, citing a $1.7 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone.
This is compared to earnings of $452.2 million a year ago.
In response, Dollar Tree has said it will close roughly 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores over the next several years as their leases expire.
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Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion almost a decade ago.
It competed against rival Dollar General in a bidding war.
However, it is thought that Dollar Tree struggled to integrate it into its operation.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said: "This dramatic cull is the coup de grâce in the rather botched acquisition of the Family Dollar chain, which has caused Dollar Tree nothing but hassle since it was completed back in 2015.
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"Over recent years, rates of shopping around have increased, and we believe that they will only increase further in the years ahead as other chains like Walmart, Aldi and Dollar General continue to expand.
"Against this backdrop, Family Dollar does not want to invest in markets where it cannot win and is not particularly profitable."
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Dollar Tree also closed roughly 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of fiscal 2024.
BIG LOTS, BIGGER PROBLEMS
Late last year, Big Lots announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, impacting hundreds of their stores.
The chain has released a list of the locations it expects to remain open, a far cry from the nearly 900 locations it had before the filing.
Big Lots is currently seeking support from Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, per Newsweek.
Gordon Brothers is a Boston-based asset liquidation firm, which will help during the bankruptcy process.
Some of their spots will remain open, being sold to Variety Wholesalers.
So far, this is about 200 stores, including in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and West Virginia.
US braces for '45,000 store closures'
Some 45,000 bricks-and-mortar stores could close in the next five years, experts have warned.
Several major retailers have announced store closures or gone out of business altogether in recent years.
In 2023, chains such as Foot Locker announced plans to close up to 400 outlets by 2026.
While, other well-known retailers like Tuesday Morning and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Bed Bath & Beyond has closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores and is now an online-only retailer.
The most affected retailers have been clothing, consumer electronics, sporting goods, hobby, book, music, and home furnishing stores since the start of 2019.
UBS has predicted the total number of retail stores will drop by 45k from 958k to 913k.
Despite that, the report says that certain stores should thrive while others decline.
It said retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Target, could be among the winners.
It has also been said by Big Lots themselves that it planned to close 545 of 1,389 locations by January.
Since then, more stores have been placed on the chopping block.
It is unclear how many more Big Lots locations will be lost.
Big Lots CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement previously: "Though the majority of our store locations are profitable, we intend to move forward with a more focused footprint to ensure that we operate efficiently and are best positioned to serve our customers."
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek: "This deal with Gordon Brothers and Variety Wholesalers, they hope it's their lifeline.
"Variety will operate the acquired stores under the Big Lots brand, while allowing Big Lots to shed underperforming locations and focus on profitable stores.
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"They're essentially getting back to basics.
"Returning to their extreme bargain roots that worked well before they lost their way."
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