Here's How Big Lots Keeps Its Prices So Low

If we told you that Big Lots was founded by a man named Sol Shenk who, as per company site, "loved making crazy closeout deals" on things like automotive parts and vehicles, it may help you understand just how the store manages to keep its prices so low and competitive compared to other stores.

While Big Lots may not be selling car parts anymore, it still scours name-brand stores for items that haven't sold and takes them back to its showrooms to price them to sell. As one Redditor, who's in-the-know, explained: "Sometimes this is because the other store went bankrupt. They might quickly sell a bunch of clothes to Big Lots for a small amount compared to what they usually charge. Other times, someone might buy too much of an item ... Big Lots essentially makes a profit from other businesses' mistakes."

Big Lots doesn't just buy out stock from stores that ordered too much of one thing or the wrong thing. In addition, because it's a liquidation store, the grocery section will be full of reduced-price items that are still good, but may be very close to their expiration dates (via Clark). Cosmetics also may be about to expire. Its shelves will also feature items that may not be close to expiring, but are only meant to be sold at a specific time of the year, think Christmas cookies in July or pumpkin spice in spring.  

As Home Hacks points out, because Big Lots buys their overstocks in larger quantities — or big lots, if you will — they aren't likely to have tight quality control over whatever they're bringing into the store. This means you could up paying for defective items — or you could end up with a piece of designer furniture for a fraction of the cost. But, as any bargain hunter will tell you, ferreting out the good stuff is half the fun, right?