Big Lots is scheduled to reopen its Arlington store May 15 at 9119 Merrill Road in the Merrill Crossing shopping center.
Merrill Crossing is east of Interstate 295 and the Southside Connector.
The USAToday.com and FastCompany.com news sites reported April 23 that the Jacksonville location was among 73 stores set to open May 15, following about 55 Big Lots to open May 1.
The store has signs on the doors that say “Big Lots! The Comeback Starts Soon! Opening May 15th.”
Hours are posted as 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
A banner sign remains on the outside of the building that “The Comeback Starts Soon!”
Shelves are being filled.
FastCompany.com reported that the discount chain, which initially was expected to close every store, reached a deal in December with Variety Wholesalers Inc., the parent company of Roses and other bargain shopping chains, to take over hundreds of leases and operate the stores under the Big Lots brand.
It said hundreds of stores were expected to reopen across 15 states before the beginning of summer, among four waves.
The first wave of nine stores has opened. The second wave will be May 1.
The third wave includes Jacksonville among five Florida stores.
The fourth wave includes seven Florida stores.
All four waves are expected to be complete by early June.
The only Jacksonville store to reopen is the Arlington location. None of the other closed area Big Lots stores are on the reopening lists.
As the Daily Record reported April 7, new ownership intends to reopen the Big Lots discount store in Arlington as it starts several waves of opening 219 locations it bought out of bankruptcy among 15 states.
Variety Wholesalers of Henderson, North Carolina, bought the stores after Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in September 2024.
A banner on the Jacksonville store in the Merrill Crossing shopping center says “The Comeback Starts Soon!”
Upon filing for bankruptcy protection, Big Lots had six stores in Northeast Florida comprising four in Jacksonville and one each in St. Augustine and Orange Park.
Its Jacksonville stores were at Merrill Road as well as 14333 Beach Blvd., 9625 Crosshill Blvd. and 9718 Old St. Augustine Road in Jacksonville; at 308 Florida 312 in St. Augustine, and at 700 Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park.
Big Lots eventually closed all of its stores, with the Beach Boulevard and Blanding Boulevard stores shutting down in an earlier wave.
On Jan. 9, Boston-based Gordon Brothers, an asset liquidation firm, said it completed its acquisition of Big Lots in a deal that included the sale of at least 200 locations to Variety Wholesalers.
Gordon Brothers lists the Crosshill Boulevard, Old St. Augustine Road and Florida 312 store leases for sale.
Variety Wholesalers announced in an April 4 news release that the first of four waves of openings would start April 10 with nine stores in six states: Sterling, Kentucky; Metairie, Louisiana; Tupelo and Pearl, Mississippi; Asheboro, North Carolina; Clarksville, Dickson and Gallatin, Tennessee; and Roanoke, Virginia.
Variety Wholesalers said then it would reopen the remaining acquired locations in subsequent waves through early June, leading up to a grand opening celebration across all stores this fall.
Those stores are in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia, among other states.