Big Lots to enter south side retail market

Nearly five years after opening on Springfield's north side, Big Lots will add a new location on the south side this spring. The brand name close-out store plans to open at 303 E. Battle-field by May.

Big Lots will occupy the 25,000-square-foot building in Battlefield Plaza that previously housed Heilig-Meyers.

"We've been chasing it for some time to get another store in (Springfield); it's just finding the right place, the right location," said Big Lots District Op-erations Manager Rick Merton. "We just felt like that was the one."

Former tenant Heilig-Meyers, a furniture company based in Richmond, Va., filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 17, 2000, with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to the building's leasing agent Dave Murray, of R.B. Murray Company, Heilig-Meyers' lease terminated in Au-gust of last year, opening it up for Big Lots.

Big Lots will spend about $650,000 to open the store, ac-cording to the company's director of public relations, Keri Lu-cas. She said that is typically what it takes, including infill and inventory costs.

This store will be different from the north location in that it will carry a full line of furniture.

"This will be a nice thing it will introduce (our furniture) to the area," Lucas said.

Merton, who covers 14 stores in the four-state corner of Mis-souri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, said the furniture de-partment will be as large as 3,000 square feet. Approxi-mately 500 stores now carry furniture.

Merton said he is in the hiring process, looking for a management team that will consist of a store manager and two assistants.

A total of 50 to 60 associates will be hired for the store's opening, he said, but that employment will level off to around 30 for everyday business.

He said store managers often are hired internally, but for this site it is likely to be a local hire.

"I've been trying to network through my management staff and the store I al-ready have there," Merton said.

He added that the existing store's manager, Don Powell, will help to find some local people to fill the new positions.

"I really anticipate that being a good store there," Merton said. "I really like Springfield, we have really good acceptance there, and that's certainly why we are going to put another store in over on the other side. It's been a good market for us."

Lucas said Big Lots opens stores at a rate of about 80 to 100 per year. The publicly traded company NYSE-BLI has 1,346 stores in 45 states and generates sales of more than $3 billion annually. Last year, 78 new stores opened.

On a national average, Lucas said, annual store sales are $2.6 million, but she could not divulge the sales numbers of the existing store here.

Lucas said the decision to add a second store is based on the performance of the first. "We really look at the demographics and how the other store is doing, but also take into consideration what is the response to us being in the community," she said. "We are very pleased with our other store."

She added that the company rarely has a free-standing building constructed, and it prefers moving into existing structures.

"We like to move into second-generation retail spaces," Lucas said. "Those are really great areas for us to come in and revitalize the area."

Murray said the building is in good shape, but Big Lots is making some mi-nor changes to the interior.

"They are in the process now of doing a remodel of the facility, even though the building was in quite nice condition," Murray said. "They are going to change the lighting system and the flooring. The floor covering, the ceiling and lighting will be totally different."

As a close-out retailer, Big Lots sells brand-name products at lower prices by acquiring merchandise from manufacturers reducing inventory.

The company and its concept started in 1967.