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Big Lots opening four suburban stores

November will be a big month for discount retailer Big Lots as it opens stores in Carpentersville, Elgin, Streamwood and Naperville.

It will open in the former Circuit City store in Spring Hill Market Place on Route 31 in Carpentersville. A soft opening is scheduled for Nov. 8, while the grand opening will be held on Nov. 16.

The Elgin store will be at 202 S. Randall Road, the Streamwood one will be at 1080 S. Barrington Road and the Naperville one is setting up at 2781 Aurora Ave. — all in pre-existing spaces that Big Lots renovated to suit its needs.

Between 40 and 50 employees will be working at each store, said Toni Fink, a Big Lots spokeswoman.

Big Lots operates 1,470 stores across America and offers electronics, furniture, home goods, and other items at prices 70 percent below traditional retailers and between 20 and 40 percent less than discount stores.

It gets the savings by securing merchandise through overstocks, bankruptcies, discontinued promotions, mergers, discontinued products and the like.

When the vendors need to get rid of this inventory, they call Big Lots, which passes the discounts onto its customers, Fink said.

This is a big deal for Carpentersville, which saw the 23,000-square-foot Circuit City close about seven years ago.

“It’s a good business opportunity,” Carpentersville Village President Ed Ritter said, adding that he plans to shop there. “A lot of people are looking forward to it. People who know about Big Lots, they like it.”

This marks the second time Big Lots has had opened a store in Carpentersville.

The company had another store on the east side of the village, which it closed in 2007 after 10 years due to poor performance, Fink said.

Company leaders hope the store on the west side bears more fruit.

Big Lots’ leasing team liked the new location’s proximity to Spring Hill Mall. They’re also excited about the 173,000 people living within 6 miles and about 30,000 vehicles that pass by the area daily.

“Those are obviously numbers that we’re looking for when we select a new location,” Fink said.

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