Big Lots

Gross! Dirty place and when I got home all my food has bugs in it! I love the idea of bug lots but the reality is gross and disgusting!

This is a Big Lots, so you can always expect cheap household items here. I certainly wouldn’t buy anything here that I would like to last more than a few years, just because they get their supplies from the same places as every other Big Lots, but the reason why I really like this place is the management. Specifically, they allowed me to retroactively apply coupons for one of their random 30% off sales to something I bought the week prior. And it was a big item, it saved me somewhere around $ 200.
Pro’s:
— Everything you’d expect in a Big Lots
— Cheap items
— Great management
— Always parking
Con’s:
— no self check-​out line
— it can be hard to find someone to help you out there. One time I literally called the number on this Unilocal page because I couldn’t find anybody. I actually might suggest this as my tip because it was faster than walking around.
— If they don’t let you retroactively apply coupons, you have to wait around for a few weeks-​months until they have those 20%-30% off deals before you really get your value.

Love/​hate. That’s my relationship with all Big Lots. I always go to BL for certain things: cleaning products, toilet paper, paper towels etc. You can find great deals here. That’s what I love. For example I found 1 liter bottles of coconut water for $ 1.50 each. Those go for $ 4.99 at Whole Foods. Now on to the hate — when something is gone, it’s gone. Once the coconut water was sold out I didn’t see it again for months. I suggest that if you find something you like buy ALL of it.

I freaking love this Big Lots!
Plenty of parking space! Top & Bottom garages for the geniuses who can’t read ;)
They have a ton of goodies to purchase.
Food selection is great: Tons of well known cereals, coffee, drinks, sodas, chips, just the basics!
I personally go for hygiene products. Inexpensive well known brands. (deodorants, mouth wash, shampoo & conditioners, face cleansers, lotions, hair ties, razors, shaving cream etc. you get the point.
They also have a nice selection of bathroom goods and furniture for your household.
This is like a 99 cent store triple PLUS without the cheap a$$ quality of products.
Not sure if this place is the shieeeet because its on the westside but I love it. It really is a gem, check it out when you get a chance I promise you will ending up spending at least $ 50.00 plus lol.

This place is cool. Came here a couple times over the Holidaze looking for decorations. The singing santa’s on the toilet were the best. If they were in better condition, I would have bought. Loved the Sponge Bob lights. The place is crazy, you park in this dimly lit structure and enter through the back. There are no windows inside. There are amazing deals everywhere and people get so excited they leave their babies crawling on the floor. The clerks are nice too. I’ll pop in more often.

I’m a fan of Big Lots but I’m not a fan of the way they changed their loyalty program. They used to count the number of $ 20 purchases you had and after a certain number (I think it was 10), you qualified for 20% off your entire next purchase (as opposed to Bed, Bath & Beyond where you get 20% of a single item).
Now they randomly send a discount email to card members (seems like it was 3 times in 2014) and then you can get the same 20% discount on a certain weekend.
Regardless, they have good deals on most of their items but you do need to be a savvy shopper as they have some items that are priced higher than your local grocery store.
The positives on the prices on the majority of their items and a pretty good selection, the negatives are that some stores are disorganized and they don’t always have the same item you may have purchased on a previous shopping trip. So, if you see something you like and it doesn’t have an expiration date, buy it. On the subject of expiration dates, be sure to check those on all perishable items — some are within days of your purchase.
Some of the stores have added a frozen/​refrigerated section so you can get some ice cream to munch on while you’re driving home discussing your great finds.
They do have electronics but many are refurbished items (check the markings on the boxes). The prices are decent on these but you may be able to get a similar deal on new electronics at Kohl’s when they have their sales and their 10−30% discount offers. Macy’s can also have decent prices when they have sales and you use their card (sometimes offers 20% off).
Anyway, back to Big Lots, worth a try for groceries, sundries, laundry items and some school supplies. Hope you’re able to find something useful!
Enjoy!

Last night I tried to shop at the Big Lots on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles. I rarely use Big Lots but they have Archway baked goods and my parents, being from Chicago, love them and I had not seen them elsewhere.
One very nice checker got the ladder and moved the cookies, which were mostly out of the reach of customers, down for me and many of the boxes were expired – like September 2014. There were other products on the shelves all over the store that had expired, like bottled cherries, soups, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, etc. I never buy anything at Big Lots that isn’t dated because I can’t trust the store to police their own expiration dates.
I managed to accumulate about $ 120 in merchandise over 1.5 hours in the store. On the way to the checkstands, I stopped to pick up some packages of cellophane cookie gift bags as I passed them. My cart was directly behind me. When I turned back, it was gone. Not only was it gone, it apparently walked out the door without checking out, past the checkstands and down the path to the garage without anyone stopping it. One employee suggested that they restocked the items in the cart (why they would restock an «active» cart without asking the person standing in front of it I will never know…), but I had a number of items that were one-​of-​a-​kind and they weren’t anywhere in the store. We spent another half an hour looking for them in case someone had emptied the cart to use it. Most of the store shopping carts were sitting in the parking lot and not available for customer use.
So instead of $ 120, I spent $ 5 on two boxes of the cookies that were left. I then drove down the street about three blocks and spent my $ 120 at Trader Joe’s.

I love bargain hunting at Big Lots… if you know what your looking for, you can find some good deals. Try to stay with brand name stuff and you can save some cash. This location is nice because they have their own large parking structure. The people are also nice and they try to open new lanes if a long line forms which is nice.

Great prices and selection. Sometimes a little short staffed at the registers but the cashiers tend to be pretty quick. Store is organized and everything is easy to find.

Good for kids and adults just be careful some shady people and don’t talk to hobos. One guy was a hobo and talked to my son I was very worried call the police

Makes Me Miss Pic N’ Save!
As they say, «The Road To Hell Is Paved In Expectations!»
I came to Big Lots expecting great deals and interesting merchandise.
One thing that should be mentioned was the excellent customer service I received at check out. My girlfriend loves those apple suckers dipped in caramel and was frustrated not being able to find them. The women checking us out, stepped away from the register after closing us out and showed us exactly where they were, then allowed us back to front of the line to get those suckers!!!
Lots of low quality merchandise, a few good deals on candles and
a HUGE SELECTION OF HOSTESS FLAVORED TWINKIES, DING DONGS AND HOHO’S!!!

UPDATE: I have gone to this store a few more times out of necessity. While the checkout situation improved slightly, the staff/​customer service has tanked. I have encountered employees standing around chatting with each other who, when asked for help, got a dismissive response, a hand wave and a shoulder shrug with an «I can’t be bothered» vibe. Still sticking to the Culver City store, which has a tighter parking situation but more merchandise and faster service, although their staff is pretty glum too.

I’m not a fan. This is a discount store but I didn’t see many «deals». Honestly most of the products are second rate quality and priced accordingly. The store is also packed to the gills so some areas can be hard to navigate. Employees are friendly and helpful when you can find them.
Overall, I’ve been here several times to shop for specific items (gardening and kitchen tools mostly). Most of these items fail after a few weeks or months and the prices are the same or similar to what you can find at stores like Target or World Market. It may depend on what you’re shopping for (food, furniture, office supplies, etc.) but I’ve never had much luck.
I would give one star, but they have tons of parking in the little parking garage and they offer a wide variety of products, which can be helpful to some.

Sometimes you can hit a good deals here (for me i got a folded chair in $ 14.99) but you can hardly find a stuff during your shopping.

I like coming to this store to snag some good deals on house hold items, like decorations, cleaning supplies, and the occasional odds and ends item. The store has a huge parking lot, which is hard to come by in some areas of the city. The employee’s are usually chipper and helpful. This location is not as busy as the other so it’s easy to get in and out quickly. The only issue I have is that it doesn’t have the same great selection of items like the other location near by, and if you’re a first time visitor the entrance to the store can be quite confusing. All in all, its a good store if you need stuff on the cheap.

Because Westside Pavillion Macy’s closes early on a Sunday evening, that does not mean that every store has to follow along. Luckily Big Lot’s has other ideas on how to make money from us nightowls. Just stay open later. Clean and brightly lit, we rejoiced.
We finally found this hidden gem although it was not without some difficulty. We entered from Sepulveda, and viewed the gigantic, nearly empty parking lot. Hmmm, where is the entrance? I parked my car, we looked around and found it across the way on the ground level. Once we made it inside we had a great time.
The furniture was bargain priced. My friend had bought her sofa here in the last year and has tried to get her sis-​in-​law to buy a sofa too. She remarked «so what if the kids mess it up, it’s only $ 700», the sofas were more than roomy enough (sectionals). She took a pic and emailed it. On their website you can get a good idea of the products offered, although the selection varies by store.
The staff were genuinely friendly & helpful. One of them disclosed to my friend that a small coffee maker which she was seeking, would probably be more in her best interest than a giant one offered here and they carried them in Target.
We both bought packages of oatmeal, ha ha, big spenders we were, it was $ 1.00 each. There were several varieties, some had more sugar than the others. One was even sweetened with sucralose. My friend put that one back on the shelf. She declared «I hate sucralose» and opted for plain sugar sweetened oatmeal.
I asked a staff what were the big sellers? She mentioned food and cleaning supplies. Would like to return when we have more time. We only had 15 minutes before they closed. Have you heard of speed racer? Just call us speed shoppers.
There were no lines at the cashier, only smiling, inviting faces. In fact, 3 check out registers were open.
They had those faux fireplaces, the heat of which, drew me closer. Walked out of there on a warm note. Their prices I believe are cheaper than the supermarket, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Tuesday Morning, TJ Maxx and other discount chain stores. Will be returning sometime soon.
If you sign up for their email and you are a teacher, it looks as though you will receive a discount! My friend is a teacher, so she will be thrilled to bits about that, thrifty shopper that she is.

Unilocal should let us give negative ratings because I’d give this store a –100!
I saw this cashier about to open a new lane. She called for the next person in line. About 10 seconds later no one moved, so I went in that line with my 3 small items. The nosy cashier in the other line butts in and says she can not take me because she wants the next person in her line. Well no one in your line moved!!! We argued for 2 minutes with the other cashier who is nosy and the cashiers lane I was in was almost going to take me. But short girl decided she needed to say something. I had 3 items … Small… The time it took them yelling at me I would have paid and been in my car. Everyone else had 15 items or more! Nosy cashier if your reading this… Learn how to count… There wasn’t one line for all 3 lanes, there was 2 lines! And next time mind your own business!
I spoke with the manager and the conversation was going no where. She didn’t see my point that NO ONE moved! I understand if someone waiting moved to the new lane I should wait but that didn’t happen. She offered to check me out right away but at this point I wasn’t happy and didn’t want to give them my money.
Horrible customer service! And the ratings for this corporation prove it! Go to the 99 cent store for better service!

The Big Lots just opened on Nov 18! This is the best one around the area, very clean, helpful staff, easy parking in the back & better items than the Big Lots in Culver City!

I came here on opening day and braved the crowds. It was pretty crazy here — partly because they had lots of raffles going on, and partly because it’s now the only Big Lots on the westside.
It’s located in the old Shoe Pavillion building, and has a really convenient parking lot.
In the past few years, this chain has marked up their prices and increased their inventory of furniture. They even had Serta mattresses when I was here, but I couldn’t tell you for sure if they were priced competitively or not.
There was a ton of Christmas stuff, toys, food, clothing, candy, $ 3 and $ 5 DVDs, kitchen stuff, bedding, towels, doggie clothing & toys, etc. I always seem to find some useful things like gift wrap, hydrogen peroxide, nail stuff, shower scrubby gloves and cheap batteries.
Oh, they also were passing out $ 5 off a $ 20 or higher purchase for next week — for this location only.
It’s not as cheap as it used to be, but there are still bargains to be had, and since it’s close and has easy parking, I likely will be back.