Sprouts Farmers Market to open first Columbus store in former Big Lots

Sprouts Farmers Market has staked its first Columbus and Ohio store on a former Big Lots box in Grandview, a sign that not every empty discount store is just dead space. The Phoenix-based grocer has signed a lease for 1451 W. 5th Avenue and says it expects to begin serving the community in 2028.

The site is the former Big Lots that closed in October 2024 after the company filed voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 9, 2024. For Big Lots employees and landlords alike, the quick handoff matters: the box did not sit long enough to become a neighborhood liability, and it did not have to be carved up for smaller tenants. Instead, another large-format retailer found a use for the footprint, which is expected to be about 28,000 square feet.

That kind of reuse shows where former Big Lots stores still have strong real-estate value. Grandview sits in a dense Columbus corridor with steady traffic, the sort of location that can support a grocer built around fresh produce, natural foods and weekly repeat visits. Sprouts says it specializes in fresh, natural and organic foods, including organic, gluten-free, plant-based and non-GMO products, and the chain has framed its Columbus move as part of a push to make healthy food more accessible.

The Grandview lease is also part of a broader reordering of Big Lots’ former footprint. In early 2025, Gordon Brothers completed its purchase of Big Lots and helped facilitate a going-concern sale that moved stores, distribution centers and intellectual property to other operators, including Variety Wholesalers. Variety Wholesalers acquired 219 Big Lots stores out of bankruptcy. Elsewhere in central Ohio, former Big Lots sites have already been taken over by Goodwill Columbus and HomeBuys, reinforcing the pattern: the vacated boxes are being reassigned quickly, but only to tenants whose format fits the space and the neighborhood.

Sprouts’ own expansion pipeline shows why the Grandview site made sense. As of March 29, 2026, the chain operated 483 stores in 25 states, had nearly 150 new stores approved and more than 105 executed leases in its pipeline, and planned at least 40 new openings in 2026. Its Columbus debut suggests that the most desirable former Big Lots locations are the ones with the right mix of visibility, population density and room for a full-size store, while weaker sites will have a harder time finding the same second life.