Prime Day shows Big Lots shoppers still chase the best deal
Prime Day spending topped $26.4 billion, and shoppers leaned hard into practical buys that Big Lots associates know well.
U.S. online shoppers spent more than $26.4 billion during Amazon’s Prime Day from June 23 through June 26, a 9.3% increase from a year earlier. The biggest spending landed in electronics, appliances, children’s items and everyday essentials, showing that even bargain hunters will open their wallets when the price feels compelling and the item looks useful enough to keep.
That buying pattern carries a familiar lesson for Big Lots workers. The value shopper has not gone away, but the customer base is highly promotional and quick to compare one retailer against another. On the sales floor, that shows up in the same questions over and over: why one item is marked down, why a product is only available in store, and why a customer should buy now instead of waiting for a better deal somewhere else.
Big Lots knows how sharp that pressure can be. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection on September 9, 2024, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware after years of declining sales and heavy pressure in discretionary home categories. At the start of 2024, Big Lots operated 1,392 U.S. stores, a footprint that later gave way to a wave of closures and asset sales as the chain tried to stabilize its business.
The brand did not disappear entirely. In April 2025, Variety Wholesalers announced plans to reopen Big Lots stores in North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia, with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners involved in the broader effort to keep some locations alive. For stores that reopened, Placer.ai found in May 2025 that customers were behaving more like bargain hunters at other treasure-hunt retailers, with more weekend traffic and longer visits than the category average.
That matters because it suggests the remaining Big Lots customer is still willing to browse, but only when the trip feels worth it. CNBC later counted Big Lots among the retailers announcing the most store closures in 2025, underscoring how fragile the discount-value sector has been even as deal-driven demand holds up. Prime Day’s numbers point to the same reality on a much larger stage: shoppers will spend, but only when the value message is loud enough to win the sale.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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