Big Lots faces tougher summer promos as retail shipping surges

C.H. Robinson’s July retail freight update said summer sales events have created a new demand surge, with Amazon shifting Prime Day into late June and Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Ulta all adding competing promotions. The freight company said the biggest events can drive order volumes to five to 10 times normal levels, a pace that puts heavy strain on fulfillment and transportation networks.

That pressure lands hard at a retailer like Big Lots, where value pricing and fast-moving seasonal goods are already the daily rhythm. Big Lots says it sells furniture, home décor, mattresses and everyday essentials, and its jobs page says opportunities exist in more than 220 stores across 17 states. Its store locator listed 219 locations on July 14, and the company flagged a new store opening in Tiffin, Ohio, with a grand opening on June 25 at 680 W. Market Street.

For store teams, compressed promotional calendars show up as late trucks, pallet moves, rapid feature changes and constant price-sign updates. The company’s own weekly-deals messaging pushes daily discounts on furniture, home goods, apparel and essentials, which makes the timing of inbound freight and floor execution especially important when the market is flooded with overlapping sales events. The practical result is that workers end up juggling stock, resets and customer questions at the same time the chain is trying to keep the cheapest options visible and the right items in stock.

Big Lots is doing that work on a smaller, more fragile base than it had two years ago. The company filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on September 9, 2024, and its 2024 annual report repeats that date. During the bankruptcy process, the company said it would close hundreds of stores, with Reuters-linked coverage later putting the planned closure total at more than 340 locations. Variety Wholesalers ultimately acquired 219 Big Lots stores out of bankruptcy and began reopening a first wave in April 2025.

That history matters because the current freight surge is hitting a chain that is still rebuilding its footprint while trying to stabilize a value-driven assortment. A March 2026 RetailNext survey of 1,053 U.S. shoppers found consumers were already saying inflation and tariffs were reshaping shopping decisions, which fits with C.H. Robinson’s read that shoppers remain value conscious and are spending more on everyday essentials. UNCTAD has also warned that applied tariffs can stack on top of one another because of exemptions and sector-specific rules, adding another layer of cost and planning risk for import-heavy merchants.

For Big Lots, that means the summer promo race is not just a marketing problem. It is a warehouse, freight and labor problem that can decide which stores get the right goods on time, how quickly teams can reset the floor, and how often workers have to explain why a deal is gone before the week is out.