Big Lots 2007 Annual Report Download - page 92

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Real Estate
The following table compares the number of stores in operation at the beginning and end of each of the last five
fiscal years:
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003
Stores open at the beginning of the year ........... 1,375 1,401 1,502 1,430 1,380
Stores opened during the year ................... 711 73 103 86
Stores closed during the year.................... (29) (37) (174) (31) (36)
Stores open at the end of the year............... 1,353 1,375 1,401 1,502 1,430
As part of our real estate strategy initiated in 2005, we have focused on managing our existing store base to
drive improved profitability as opposed to opening a high number of new stores. Over the last two years, the
commercial real estate market demanded higher rent charges than we were willing to pay and, as a result, we
signed fewer new leases and opened fewer new stores than in previous years. We believe that uncertainty in
the credit markets in the second half of 2007 had a favorable impact on our ability to negotiate renewals or
extensions of existing leases. In 2007, we closed fewer stores than we previously anticipated, in part due to our
ability to negotiate lease renewals for stores where we no longer had contractual options to extend or renew.
For additional information about our real estate strategy, see the accompanying Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following table details our stores by state at February 2, 2008:
Alabama . . . . . . . . . 29 Maine . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Ohio. . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Arizona .......... 35 Maryland ......... 12 Oklahoma ........ 15
Arkansas ......... 9Massachusetts ..... 14 Oregon .......... 10
California ........ 181 Michigan ......... 40 Pennsylvania ...... 61
Colorado ......... 22 Minnesota ........ 5 Rhode Island ...... 1
Connecticut ....... 6 Mississippi ....... 15 South Carolina . . . . 29
Delaware ......... 3Missouri ......... 24 Tennessee ........ 43
Florida ........... 102 Montana ......... 2 Texas ............ 113
Georgia . . . . . . . . . . 57 Nebraska ......... 3Utah ............. 10
Idaho ............ 5Nevada .......... 14 Vermont ......... 4
Illinois ........... 35 New Hampshire . . . 6 Virginia .......... 36
Indiana . . . . . . . . . . 44 New Jersey . . . . . . . 13 Washington ....... 18
Iowa ............. 3 New Mexico . . . . . . 13 West Virginia . . . . . 18
Kansas ........... 10 New York . . . . . . . . 45 Wisconsin ........ 13
Kentucky ......... 40 North Carolina . . . . 60 Wyoming ......... 2
Louisiana ......... 23 North Dakota . . . . . 1 Total stores ....... 1,353
Number of states . . 47
Of our 1,353 stores, 501 stores operate in four states: California, Texas, Ohio, and Florida, and sales in these
states represent 39% of our 2007 net retail sales.
Associates
At February 2, 2008, we had 38,153 active associates comprised of 14,113 full-time and 24,040 part-time
associates. Temporary associates hired during the fall and winter holiday selling season increased the number
of associates to a peak of 44,515 in 2007. Approximately 60% of the associates employed throughout the year
are employed on a part-time basis. We consider our relationship with our associates to be good, and we are not a
party to any labor agreements.
Competition
We operate in the highly competitive retail industry and face strong sales competition from other general
merchandise, discount, food, arts and crafts, and dollar store retailers. Additionally, we compete with a
number of companies for retail site locations, to attract and retain quality employees, and to acquire our broad
assortment of closeout merchandise from vendors.