OBSERVER File Photo The Big Lots store on Harrison Street is pictured.

Big Lots stores in Chautauqua County are still safe, but the retailer plans to close more stores than it had originally said.

In June Big Lots officials announced in an SEC filing that it expected to close between 35 and 40 stores across the country. But an audit of the retailer’s website by Advance Newspapers, which include Masslive.com and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, reveal almost 300 stores across the country are expected to close this year. That’s roughly 21% of Big Lots’ stores, including 75 in California alone. There are 10 closures scheduled for New York state, including two in Buffalo.

Updated second quarter financial statements from Big Lots are expected sometime later this month. First quarter results reported in June showed a net loss of $205 million, or $6.99 per share, for the first quarter of 2024, a period that ended May 4. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 totaled $1.009 billion, a 10.2% decrease compared to $1.124 billion for the same period in 2023. The decline year over year, according to company officials, was driven by a comparable sales decrease of 9.9%.

“While we’ve made substantial progress on improving our business operations in (the first quarter), we missed our sales goal due largely to continued pullback and consumer spending by our core customers, particularly in high-ticket discretionary items,” Bruce Thorn, Big Lots CEO, told investor analysts during the company’s first quarter earnings conference call. “The consumer environment softened in the first quarter, as both consumer confidence and settlement has declined since January due in part to concerns about inflation, unemployment, and interest rates.”

Consumer confidence rose in July, according to The Conference Board, a business research group. The board reported in late July that its consumer confidence index rose to 100.3 in July from 97.8 in June. The index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market rose in July to 78.2 from 72.8 in June. A reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future.

Consumers’ view of current conditions dipped in July to 133.6, from 135.3 in June.

Elevated prices for food and groceries remain the main driver of consumers’ view of the U.S. economy. Though inflation has come down considerably since the Federal Reserve started boosting interest rates in March of 2022, price increases remain well above pre-pandemic levels.

“Even though consumers remain relatively positive about the labor market, they still appear to be concerned about elevated prices and interest rates, and uncertainty about the future; things that may not improve until next year,” said Dana Peterson, The Conference Board’s chief economist.