Big Lots amended its credit facilities to accommodate its plan to “aggressively address underperforming stores.” Among other things, the amendment increases the number of permitted store closings from 150 to 315. As we previously reported, following management noting that 30% of its stores are 4-Wall EBITDA negative, the Company had already started going out of business sales at around 140 stores (10% of its base) and this amendment now allows them to continue with that accelerated pace of closures; the Company's website now lists almost 300 stores slated for closure.

The below chart compares the monthly average store visits of a Big Lots in Belle Vernon, PA and the 24 closest Five Below stores. As the chart shows, the Big Lots is consistently underperforming its nearby competitor when it comes to store traffic. 

Wegmans is preparing to open its first store in Connecticut, a 92,000 square-foot store to be located in Norwalk, in summer 2025. The Company operates 111 stores along the East Coast. Other future openings in 2025 include Lake Grove, NY and Rockville, MD. Additionally, Wegmans has a tentative opening date of summer 2026 for a new Charlotte, NC location. The below map shows the Company's future openings. 

Orlando, FL-based Buca di Beppo filed Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code for the Northern District of Texas. In the filing, the Company said it owes at least $15 million to $50 million, to at least 30 creditors. It cited declining sales, rising costs, continued staffing challenges, and changes in consumer preferences. The filing followed about a week after the chain abruptly closed more than a dozen locations. There remain 44 locations across 14 states and two international locations within the system.

Buca joins a growing number of restaurant concepts seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as operating costs remain high and consumer spending softens. World of Beer filed in late July, while earlier this year filing were made by Red Lobster, Rubio's, Tijuana Flats, Foxtrot/Dom's Kitchen, and Pizza Hut franchisee EYM. 

The below chart shows the chain's average monthly visits for June 2024 versus June 2023. 

Months after abruptly closing, Foxtrot is reopening select stores. As background, Foxtrot's owner Outfox Hospitality abruptly closed all of its stores and filed Chapter 7, ultimately selling its intellectual assets for $2.2 million to Further Point Enterprises, New York. Foxtrot's founder Mike LaVitola is working with Further Point to revive the business, with plans to reopen 10 stores in Chicago, starting with locations in Old Town and Gold Coast (see map below of the chain's Chicago locations). 

Foxtrot had 33 locations in Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas, and Austin. Outfox also owned two Dom's Kitchen & Market locations (a small-format grocer), one of which will become The Fresh Market in Lincoln Park.