FAYETTEVILLE — An orange ribbon stretched across the front of Fayetteville's newest discount retail store Friday morning, and with the clip of a scissors Big Lots was officially open.
Located in the Fiesta Square Shopping Center, 2999 N. College Ave., the opening ceremony came a week after the store opened.
Store Manager Jim Oliver said the store opened earlier because work on the space, which had previously housed such businesses as Trees N Trends and at one time Walmart, was completed ahead of schedule.
Big Lots District Manager Ken Liberton praised Oliver for the early opening date.
Oliver said the store met sales expectation during their first week.
Also during Friday's opening ceremony, Liberton presented Butterfield Elementary School Principal Joey Folsom with a $2,500 check.
"Whenever we open a new store, we make a donation to a local school," Liberton said.
Butterfield Elementary School was selected because it is the closest school to the store.
Folsom said they didn't have any specific project designated for the funds, but said it would be put to good use.
The store occupies 30,000 square feet in the Fiesta Square Shopping Center and has 25,000 square feet of retail space.
"We are an off-price, close-out retailer and concentrate more on the hard goods rather than the soft goods," Oliver said.
Soft goods refer to items such as clothing, while hard goods are everything else.
"We have everything from furniture to food," Oliver said. The store does sell a limited number of clothing items.
Big Lots also picks up lines other retailers close out.
Liberton said the store recently started carrying video games.
"This is an area we believe we can carry for a really good price and provide a value for the customers," he said.
Big Lots already has a store in Springdale, and Liberton said Northwest Arkansas has been good for the chain.
"We are always looking for a community that matches who we are and what we offer. We look for vibrant locations," he said.
The retailer opened a store in Harrison in April.
"This is the second store Jim has opened," Liberton said. Oliver opened the Harrison store and had previously served as a store manager in Fort Smith.
A 1991 University of Arkansas graduate, Oliver has lived n Fayetteville for about eight years and has been commuting.
"Now I'm home," he said.
The Fayetteville Big Lots is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Big Lots' headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio, and operates 1,367 stores in 47 states. It is a publicly traded company and reported just over $1 billion in sales for the third quarter, which ended Oct. 31. Sales were flat, with the store reporting similar earnings from the third quarter in 2008.
Big Lot, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) closed Friday at 25.07 a share, down 1.3 percent from Thursday.
Comments
To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Registration is required to make comments. Click here to LOGIN.
You can register for FREE to post comments and receive alerts.