EDMOND —
Big Lots! had a grand opening Friday amid a ribbon cutting, presentation of a check to a local school, cake and free items in its newest store at 1600 S. Broadway.
The 30,912-square-foot-building will employ 40-45 associates, said Al Smithee, Big Lots district manager.
In a staff meeting prior to the grand opening Smithee told the store associates, “Great customer service is what we are all about. Don’t minimize your importance to the company.”
Customers lined up early for the grand opening sales and presentation of a check for $2,500 to Orvis Risner Elementary Principal Shana Perry.
“My daughter is a school teacher, and we give a check to a local school each time we open a new store,” said Bill Coney, regional vice president.
Perry said the money will be used to fund a reward system for successful students as well as for the students striving for success.
“We are calling it SWAG to coin a phrase students use,” Perry said, “only in this instance it means ‘Students Will Achieve Greatness.’ We are going to purchase T-shirts and award them each week to the students nominated by their teachers who are doing the right thing and making the right decisions.”
Perry said teachers will be SWAG Masters! followed by an exclamation point mimicking the punctuation on the Big Lots! sign because of the company’s donation to the school.
“Ever since we closed the other Big Lots store on West Edmond Road and South Kelly Avenue five years ago we have been looking for a new location,” Coney said. “We have been able to move back to great real estate. It is too bad that tough economic times have provided us with the opportunity to move into real estate that is perfect for us.”
With 1,500 stores nationwide and in Canada, Big Lots was founded in 1965 as mostly an automotive closeout specialty store. It changed its focus in the 1980s and became what it is today, the nation’s largest closeout retail store.
“If you find something you like, buy it,” Smithee said. “Keep your receipt and if you get home and decide you don’t want it you have 30 days to bring the item back with your receipt for a refund.”
With a soft opening Aug. 31, store manager Billy Lewis said this is the sixth Big Lots he has opened.
“It is fun and exciting to be back in Edmond,” Lewis said. “I project we will be the No. 1 volume store in no time.”
Lewis said he has had a lot of people who shopped at the May Avenue and 63rd Street store in Oklahoma City who live in Edmond.
“Many of them have come up to me and told me how much they have missed having a Big Lots in Edmond,” Lewis said, “and some have even hugged me. I am glad to be back.”
pmiller@edmondsun.com | 341-2121
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Related Photos
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PATTY MILLER | THE EDMOND SUN Big Lots associates Mayra Alvarez and Paige DeLisa show off a cake celebrating the new Edmond store's grand opening on Friday.
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PATTY MILLER | THE EDMOND SUN Big Lots District Manager Al Smithee welcomes Edmond representatives and shoppers to the grand opening of the Big Lots store at 1600 S. Broadway.
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PATTY MILLER | THE EDMOND SUN Shana Perry, Orvis Risner principal, center, receives a check for her school from Big Lots representatives, Billy Lewis, store manager, left, and Bill Coney, regional vice president. The money will be used to provide a reward system for the school's students.
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PATTY MILLER | THE EDMOND SUN Al Smithee, district manager for Big Lots, Nick Massey, City Council representative; David Goin, Edmond Public Schools superintendent; and Billy Coney, Big Lots regional vice president, visit after the ribbon cutting for the new Big Lots store at 1600 S. Broadway.
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Big Lots! makes big return to Edmond
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