Big Lots 2011 Annual Report Download - page 119

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The following table details our U.S. stores by state at January 28, 2012:
Alabama . . . . . . . . . 28 Maine . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ohio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Arizona . . . . . . . . . . 36 Maryland ......... 19 Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Arkansas . . . . . . . . . 13 Massachusetts ..... 20 Oregon ............... 13
California . . . . . . . . 174 Michigan ......... 48 Pennsylvania .......... 70
Colorado . . . . . . . . . 20 Minnesota . . . . . . . . 7 Rhode Island .......... 1
Connecticut ....... 11 Mississippi . . . . . . . 14 South Carolina . . . . . . . . 34
Delaware ......... 4 Missouri . . . . . . . . . 28 South Dakota .......... 1
Florida ........... 109 Montana . . . . . . . . . 2 Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Georgia . . . . . . . . . . 60 Nebraska ......... 4 Texas ................ 117
Idaho ............ 6 Nevada . . . . . . . . . . 12 Utah ................. 11
Illinois ........... 34 New Hampshire . . . 7 Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Indiana ........... 46 New Jersey . . . . . . . 18 Virginia .............. 37
Iowa ............. 3 New Mexico . . . . . . 12 Washington ........... 23
Kansas ........... 9 New York . . . . . . . . 54 West Virginia . . . . . . . . . 18
Kentucky ......... 40 North Carolina . . . . 68 Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Louisiana ......... 23 North Dakota ...... 2 Wyoming ............. 2
Total stores .......... 1,451
Number of states ...... 48
The following table details our Canadian stores by province at January 28, 2012:
Alberta ........... 13 New Brunswick .... 2 Saskatchewan . . . . . . . . . 6
British Columbia ... 16 Nova Scotia ....... 4
Manitoba ......... 4 Ontario . . . . . . . . . . 37 Total stores .......... 82
Number of provinces ... 7
Of our 1,533 stores, 33% operate in four states: California, Texas, Ohio, and Florida, and net sales from stores in
these states represented 36% of our 2011 net sales.
Associates
At January 28, 2012, we had approximately 37,400 active associates comprised of 13,200 full-time and 24,200
part-time associates. Temporary associates hired during the fall and winter holiday selling season increased the
number of associates to a peak of approximately 43,000 in 2011. Approximately 65% 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, furniture, 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.
Purchasing
An integral part of our business is the sourcing and purchasing of quality brand-name merchandise directly
from manufacturers and other vendors typically at prices below those paid by traditional retailers. We believe
that we have built strong relationships with many brand-name vendors and we have capitalized on our
purchasing power in the closeout marketplace, including our ability to pay timely and source merchandise that
provides exceptional value to our customers. We have the ability to source and purchase significant quantities
of a vendor’s closeout merchandise in specific product categories and to control distribution in accordance with