Big Lots Moves Closer to Opening in East Haven

Originally written by Jack Kramer, Correspondent

EAST HAVEN, CT – Big Lots, Inc. is shooting to open in at the old Xpect Discounts location by the third week in June, according to a store representative who was conducting job interviews at the site recently.

Clear signs that the store is soon to be opened are everywhere. The parking lot has been paved over and there is a big Big Lots sign adorning the top of the store that has been placed there in the past few days.

Recently, about a dozen job applicants were inside the store waiting to be interviewed for possible jobs. Additionally, the company held a job fair on April 24th and is advertising for workers online.

Big Lots, Inc, an American retail company that has over 1,400 stores in 48 states, including 13 in Connecticut, will be opening a store in 2017.

Big Lots has 13 other stores in Connecticut, including ones in Wallingford, North Haven, Milford and Derby Big Lots is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Its department stores sell a wide variety of merchandise, including packaged food and beverages, toys, furniture, clothing, housewares, and small electronics, much of which is closed out or overstocked merchandise.

Many of the items in these stores sell out quickly: in the store one day, but gone the next, with no replenishments coming. Many other items, such as foodstuffs, are stocked continually.

In many cases, Big Lots uses buildings formerly occupied by other stores. The East Haven Xpect store, which closed at the end of March of this year, was one of the last ones to operate in Connecticut.

More than 60 employees at the East Haven store lost their jobs. The chain’s North Haven store, which was on Universal Drive, closed in July 2013.

Before that, XPect closed its Derby location in April 2012.

(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)