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Fans of the discount retail chain Big Lots will be happy to know that the company is just days away from making the second phase of its comeback. On Thursday, May 1, Big Lots will reopen an additional 54 stores, followed by another 78 stores two weeks later on May 15. Heres what you need to know about the companys continued retail revival, including which locations will be opening again soon. Big Lots back from the brink Back in September 2024, Big Lots filed for bankruptcy. Like many big box discount retailers, Big Lots had struggled from falling foot traffic and declining sales for years. In December 2024, the company announced it would go out of business and close all of its 800 stores. But just before the end of the year, the Big Lots brand got a last-minute reprieve. Thats when Variety Wholesalers, the company that owns discount retail chains including Bargain Town, Roses, and Super Dollar, agreed to buy just over 200 Big Lots locations from the liquidation firm Gordon Brothers. Variety Wholesalers said it would continue to operate the locations under the Big Lots brand after closing its newly acquired stores for a short time to prepare them for a new launch with reinvigorated inventory. Variety made good on its plans when it launched the first wave of a four-phased store reopenings plan in April. As Fast Company previously reported, the company is continuing its reopening push with its phase 2 reopenings on May 1, followed by phase 3 reopenings on May 15. In other words, many of those stores will open for business on Thursday. Finally, in June, Variety is expected to complete its final phase 4 reopenings, upon which time a total of 219 Big Lots locations will be open and operating again. Big Lots reopenings on May 1 and May 15 Variety says its phase 2 and phase 3 Big Lots reopenings will kick off this Thursday, May 1, with 54 additional store reopenings. Two weeks later, on Thursday, May 15, an additional 78 stores will reopen. First Company has previously published a full list of all the phase 2, 3, and 4 Big Lots stores that are reopening. What follows now is a list of all the 132 Big Lots stores that will reopen in phases 2 and 3 in May. Those stores cover locations in 14 states. North Carolina will see the most store openings in May, with 27 locations total. Ohio will see 14 stores open in May, and Pennsylvania will see 13 locations open their doors. (Note that you can see a list of locations, addresses, and opening dates on the newly updated store locator tool on the Big Lots website.) Alabama (7): Athens, Decatur, Dothan, Guntersville, Jasper, Mobile, Northport Florida (5): Crystal River, Jacksonville, Marianna, Ormond Beach, Panama City Georgia (11): Augusta, Brunswick, Buford, Cornelia, Dallas, Fort Oglethorpe, Marietta, Smyrna, Valdosta, Vidalia, Waycross Indiana (1): Jasper Kentucky (9): Campbellsville, Danville, Elizabethtown, Glasgow, Hazard, London, Middlesboro, Richmond, Somerset Michigan (5): Burton, Flint, Port Huron, Shelby Township, Southgate Mississippi (1): Southhaven North Carolina (27): Belmont, Burlington, Clemmons, Dunn, Elizabeth City, Elkin, Fayetteville, Gastonia, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory, Kinston, Lexington, Lincolnton, Mocksville, Mooresville, Mount Airy, Newton, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Selma, Shelby, Southport, Statesville, Wake Forest, Wilkesboro, Wilson Ohio (14): Alliance, Boardman, Bridgeport, Columbus, Elyria, Fremont, Grove City, Kettering, Lancaster, New Philadelphia, Reynoldsburg, Toledo, Warren, Wintersville Pennsylvania (13): Bloomsburg, Camp Hill, Cleona, Du Bois, Dunmore, East Stroudsburg, Erie, Eynon, Franklin, Lehighton, Lewisburg, Meadville, New Castle South Carolina (8): Easley, Greenwood, Lexington, Rock Hill, Seneca, Simpsonville, Spartanburg, West Columbia Tennessee (10): Alcoa, Cleveland, Greeneville, Jefferson City, Johnson City, Knoxville, Morristown, Murfreesboro, Rogersville, Sevierville Virginia (10): Chesapeake, Chester, Fredericksburg, Front Royal, Martinsville, North Chesterfield, North Prince George, Waynesboro, Winchester, Yorktown West Virginia (8): Beckley, Bridgeport, Charleston, Elkins, Fairmont, Martinsburg, Oak Hill, Princeton Big Lots phase 4 store reopenings in June Big Lots phase 1 in April saw nine locations reopen. Phase 2, on May 1, will see another 54 locations reopen, followed by the May 15 phase 3 reopening of 78 stores. Variety says it plans to reopen 219 Big Lots stores across four phases, which means that phase 4, which is scheduled for June 2025, will see the final 78 planned store reopenings. The exact date for when the final phase 4 reopenings will occur in June is unknown, but it will likely be earlier in the month.
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E-Commerce
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the federal election, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexation threats and trade war.Carney’s rival, populist Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, was voted out of his seat in Parliament, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation projected Tuesday.The loss of his seat representing his Ottawa district in Monday’s election capped a swift decline in fortunes for the firebrand Poilievre, who a few months ago appeared to be a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade.But then Trump launched a trade war with Canada and suggested the country should become the 51st state, outraging voters and upending the election.Poilievre, a career politician, campaigned with Trump-like bravado, taking a page from the “America First” president by adopting the slogan “Canada First.” But his similarities to Trump may have ultimately cost him and his party.The Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives. It wasn’t immediately clear if they would win an outright majorityat least 172or would need to rely on a smaller party to pass legislation and remain in power.Elections Canada said it has decided to pause counting of special ballotscast by voters who are away from their districts during the electionuntil later Tuesday morning. The Liberals were leading or elected in 168 seats when the counting was paused, four short of a majority. Elections Canada estimated that the uncounted votes could affect the result in about a dozen districts.The decision means Canadians won’t know until later in the day whether Carney’s Liberals have won a minority or majority mandate.In a victory speech, Carney stressed the importance of unity in the face of Washington’s threats. He also said the mutually beneficial system Canada and the U.S. had shared since World War II had ended.“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said.“As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Carney added. “These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never . . . ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.” A defeat for the Conservatives Poilievre hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister.In a concession speech before the race call on his own seat, Poilievre vowed to keep fighting for Canadians.“We are cognizant of the fact that we didn’t get over the finish line yet,” Poilievre told supporters. “We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work. And that’s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future of the country.”Poilievre can still lead the Conservative Party.Even with Canadians grappling with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street festival, Trump was trolling them on election day, suggesting again on social media that Canada should become the 51st state and saying he was on their ballot. He also erroneously claimed that the U.S. subsidizes Canada, writing, “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”Trump’s truculence has infuriated Canadians, leading many to cancel U.S. vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early. A record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre “sounds like mini-Trump to me.” He said Trump’s tariffs are a worry.“Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it’s definitely created some turmoil, that’s for sure,” he said.Historian Robert Bothwell said Poilievre appealed to the “same sense of grievance” as Trump, but that it ultimately worked against him.“The Liberals ought to pay him,” Bothwell said, referring to the U.S. president. “Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives.” The Liberal way forward Carney and the Liberals secured a new term, but they have daunting challenges ahead.If they don’t win a majority in Parliament, the Liberals might need rely on one of the smaller parties. The Bloc Québécois, which looked set to finish third, is a separatist party from French-speaking Quebec that seeks independence. Trudeau’s Liberals relied on the New Democrats to remain in power for four years, but the progressive party fared poorly on Monday and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, said he was stepping down after eight years in charge.“This is a dramatic comeback, but if the Liberals cannot win a majority of seats, political uncertainty in a new minority Parliament could complicate things for them,” said McGill University political science professor Daniel Béland.Foreign policy hasn’t dominated a Canadian election this much since 1988, when, ironically, free trade with the United States was the prevailing issue.In addition to the trade war with the U.S. and frosty relationship with Trump, Canada is dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. And more than 75% of its exports go to the U.S., so Trump’s tariffs threat and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada’s production south could severely damage the Canadian economy.While campaigning, Carney vowed that every dollar the government collects from counter-tariffs on U.S. goods will go toward Canadian workers who are adversely affected by the trade war. He also said he plans to keep dental care in place, offer a middle-class tax cut, return immigration to sustainable levels and increase funding to Canada’s public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Associated Press reporter Mike Householder contributed to this report. Rob Gillies, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s second term reached its first 100 days milestone, marked by a sweeping wave of executive orders promising to reshape the American government with immediate actions. Since taking office on January 20, Trump signed 137 executive orders (published in the Federal Register as of Monday), addressing everything from immigration and tariffs, to higher education and government spending. Navigating the head-spinning flood of executive orders and their impact can be a complex task, so Fast Company took a closer look at Trump’s executive orders in his first 100 days and found reliable trackers to keep up. What is an executive order? Executive orders are written presidential directives, which order a specific action pertaining to the federal government and are signed by the current president. Since the country’s founding, all presidents have signed at least one executive order, and such directives have become a more regular action in recent administrations. Trump’s first 100 days in context In a little over three months, Trump has signed just 25 fewer executive orders than his predecessor Joe Biden signed in the span of his four-year term. In their first 100 days in office, former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden signed 19 and 42 executive orders respectively. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); Trump’s executive orders by topic Fast Company categorized President Trump’s executive orders by the topics they covered: economy, energy, environment, government, health, social issues, tech, DEI, and other. Many of the executive orders could fit into more than one category, yet they were labeled based on the best fit. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); The analysis found that the largest category was executive orders relating to the government, with around 24.8% of EOs focused on government spending or regulating and deregulating various government bodies. This was followed by economy-related orders, which amounted to 21.9% of all executive orders, primarily pertaining to Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs. Executive orders also related to the environment, health, higher education, and DEI. How to track Trump’s executive orders Amid the chaos, various organizations are offering online tracking tools to better understand the mass executive orders and their impact. Presidential executive orders are officially published on the Federal Register, the federal government’s official journal. Its website offers all the executive orders by president since 1937, with PDF versions of the original documents. The White House also publishes the signed executive orders once they are announced. CNN’s “Tracking Trumps executive actions” index tracks all of Trump’s executive orders and provides a visualization based on topic category. This tracker also offers a search engine based on the categories. The American Presidency Project, a UC Santa Barbara initiative, tallies the amount of executive orders enacted by presidents, although it is not immediately updated. The Akin Trump Executive Order Tracker is a searchable tool that analyzes the impact of the executive orders and breaks them down for easier undertsanding. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation executive order tracker utilizes check-boxed filters to search for executive orders, and provides access to fact sheets and analysis on the impact on Black Americans.
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E-Commerce
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