Big Lots store is popular at opening

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES Employees of the new Big Lots store participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the store opens in Waldorf Aug. 14. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Big Lots employee Carol Thompson hands a balloon to Troy Burrows, 11, as he enters the new store with his mother, Kim, and father, Jeff in Waldorf Aug. 14. Click here to enlarge this photo Arthur Middleton Elementary School Reading Resource Teacher Jackie White, left, and Vice Principal Pat Mooring, second left, watch as Meredith Lay, a special education teacher, tries out a chair at Big Lots after the store's grand opening in Waldorf Aug. 14. Click here to enlarge this photo Melvina Fuller of Upper Marlboro shops at the new Big Lots in Waldorf Aug. 14.

A recession is generally a dicey period for opening a business, but executives at Big Lots are betting that now is the time for the discounter of brand-name merchandise to stake a claim in Waldorf.

On Friday, Aug. 14, supervisors and workers celebrated the store's grand opening with county employees and dedicated members of the shopping public. Before opening the doors, Big Lots District Manager Paul Bergen presented $2,500 to Arthur Middleton Elementary School and showed school representatives around the store. Then workers lined up in a row and, together, cut an orange ribbon blocking the storefront in St. Charles Towne Center.

"All right, time to work," Bergen cried, and the small crowd streamed in.

If there were an award for efficient shopping it would go to Jackie White, reading resource teacher at Arthur Middleton. She dashed in to get a Rowenta iron for her son, Robb, who is about to start at Salisbury University. White emerged at 9:15, about five minutes after the store opened.

"I was part of the tour, I saw some irons, knew I needed one and saw a great buy," she said.

Another member of the official tour was Theresa Pickeral, a Charles County employee from White Plains. She liked what she saw and planned to return, she said.

"I think it's very nice. I think it's going to do well here especially now everyone is watching their dollars," she said.

Connie Thompson of Welcome came on a scouting expedition, examining shelves of groceries with a critical eye. For her, the jury was still out. She came "just to see a new store and what it has to offer," she said.

New Waldorf resident Michelle Shay was glad to see the store open because she was used to shopping at Big Lots before she moved.

"I was excited, because we just moved down here, that they're opening a store here," she said.

Bergen said the grand opening was actually less successful than the little-publicized "soft opening" a week earlier, when the store had people waiting outside and served 250 people in a day.

"The day we opened I was like, ‘holy cow,'" he said.

The store permanently stocks about 1,100 items, called "never-outs," Bergen explained. Other merchandise is obtained as available from distributors at discounted prices, when excess production or cancelled orders make them eager to cut deals.

"Everything else is kind of ebb and flow. We may have all cereal in this aisle now, and something completely different next week. It makes it exciting for the customers because it's kind of a treasure hunt: ‘What came in on a Big Lots truck this week?'" he said.

The chain has placed a new emphasis on a pleasant shopping experience in addition to low prices, something Bergen thinks will also help lure customers in for food, toys, furniture and whatever else happens to be on offer at the time.

"We probably are excelling in periods like this. People are looking to buy quality product but purchase it at lower prices," he said.

Bergen had never attended a Big Lots opening before, but said the showing was impressive based on his experience at other retail chains. Store manager David Moore had the same impression.

"It's been great. [It was] extremely busy when we first opened last Thursday. The public was really excited," he said.

The chain is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with more than 1,300 stores nationwide, 14 of which are in the district including Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, according to Bergen and a press release.

emitrano@somdnews.com