Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Brad Thomas: Thanks. That’s really helpful. And then can you talk a little bit about the plans for stores in 2023? You’ve been opening stores, but you’re also closing stores. Will you be slowing the pace of openings and what are you thinking in terms of closings as you review that profitability that’s through a wall basis? Thanks.

Jonathan Ramsden: Hey, Brad. Good morning. Yes, generally speaking, we still strongly believe in the long-term store opening opportunity, particularly with regard to the rural and small town markets that we’ve talked about quite a bit on the call. That said in the near-term, we intend to be prudent and cautious given the overall environment. So we haven’t confirmed a number of openings for 2023 yet, but it will certainly be lower than 2022 and we’ll confirm that as we get to the call in March or at least our updated expectations. With regard to closures, we do have an accelerated number of closures this year, which is driven both by selling outright a number of our store sites, which will — as we talk about yield, yield some fairly significant proceeds in Q4.

And then there are other stores — underperforming stores that we look to accelerate the closure of. So the closures this year will end up being somewhat higher than the openings. Going forward, we would hope and expect to return to a more normalized level of closures, but we’ll certainly continue to look closely at underperforming stores. And then overall, I think just to reiterate that our real estate strategy is going to be increasingly oriented towards these rural small town stores where the economic are significantly stronger than in the urban stores.

Brad Thomas: Great. Thanks and happy holidays to everyone.

Jonathan Ramsden: Thanks, Brad. You too.

Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today’s teleconference and webcast. A replay of this call will become available. You can access the replay until December 15th by dialing toll free 877-660-6853 and enter replay confirmation 13734153 followed by the pound sign. The toll number is 201-612-7415 replay confirmation 13734153 followed by the pound sign. You may now disconnect and have a great day. We thank you for your participation.