LANSING, N.Y. — Discount retailer Big Lots will be bidding farewell to its Tompkins County outpost, as part of a sweep of dozens of closures announced across the country.
The initial announcement of closures was focused on 35-40 locations, with the only Upstate store slated for closure being in the Glens Falls area north of Albany. However, an updated list released last week added another 100+ stores to the list, amounting to about 10% of Big Lots stores nationwide.
Among those included in the latest round of announced closures are several more Upstate locations — Canandaigua, New Hartford, Plattsburgh and Poughkeepsie, as well as the Ithaca-area location, Store #830, located in the village of Lansing at 2309 North Triphammer Road, in the Cayuga Mall.
The Big Lots store fills out the east end endcap retail space in the recently renovated 220,000 square-foot strip mall, which the Flaum Management Company of Rochester maintains.
A New York State WARN notice for layoffs has yet to be filed with the Department of Labor, though many Big Lots positions are part-time, and at least 25 full-time staff at a single location, or 50 full-time staff statewide need to be laid off to trigger a mandatory filing.
According to other regional news outlets and social media, an exact date of closure for the Upstate stores has not been determined, but will likely be early this fall. Big Lots will still have over 50 locations scattered across Upstate New York following the wave of closures, and over 1,200 nationwide across 47 states.
Founded in 1967 as Consolidated Stores Corporation and headquartered in Ohio, Big Lots has experienced significant financial turmoil in recent years, citing inflation and high operating costs as the source of its struggles. Sales are also down substantially; according to the financial disclosure with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), retail sales at Big Lots stores dropped 10.2% between the first quarters of 2023 and 2024, resulting in a net loss of about $114.5 million.
As reported by national news outlets a few weeks ago, the initial wave of closures that includes the Lansing store may just be the tip of the iceberg. As reported to the SEC, Big Lots corporate board stated that there is “substantial doubt” about the ability of the company to continue operation, with potential bankruptcy filing and a complete shutdown of all remaining stores being considered. Big Lots employed over 36,000 staff, about two-thirds of which are part-time employees, as of 2022.
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