Discovering the proper one thing on the excellent worth is one among my favourite pastimes, and I’m not alone. Clients are flocking to off-price shops like TJMaxx, HomeGoods, and Ollie’s Discount Outlet as layoffs mount and consumers tighten their budgets.
Foot site visitors to those retail shops has surged in 2025, serving to drive gross sales greater amid a shift away from full-price malls, reminiscent of Macy’s and greater shops like Goal.
Ollie’s Discount Outlet has notably benefited because of its determination to capitalize on the chapter of one among its largest rivals, Large Tons.
Large Tons’ failure and Chapter 11 chapter allowed Ollie’s to accumulate a slate of its storefronts. Large Tons closures additionally diminished competitors at 290 of its 645 shops.
Alongside curiosity in a “treasure hunt” buying expertise and stretched budgets, Ollie’s Discount Outlet finds itself in a main place to win clients over the vacations and into 2026.
Ollie’s Discount Outlet was based by Mark Butler, Morton Bernstein, Harry Coverman, and Oliver “Ollie” Rosenberg at Bernstein’s lumber yard in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1982. After visiting a Constructing 19 location in Massachusetts, Butler began the corporate primarily based on a easy premise that everybody in America loves a cut price.
Ollie’s shops are stocked with closeout and overstock gadgets bought at a reduction and offered to clients at decrease costs than these present in malls. It goals for a 40% gross margin. If it will probably hit that concentrate on and considerably undercut costs at full-price shops, it would promote absolutely anything, together with cleaning soap, meals, toys, housewares, attire, and electronics.
Ollie’s Discount Outlet is seeing extra foot site visitors after rival Large Tons closed shops amid chapter.Shutterstock
The corporate, recognized for its quirky, comic-book-style advertising and marketing, has been deliberate about its progress, slowly however constantly opening areas. It centered on Pennsylvania shops earlier than getting into Maryland within the Nineteen Nineties. Regardless of Rosenberg’s passing in 1996, the corporate steadily expanded its retailer rely beneath Butler’s management, reaching 20 areas by late 2000 and 36 shops by 2005, which lifted income to $150 million that yr.
2025: 645 areas Supply: Ollie’s FAQ
2020:388 areas Supply: Ollie’s 2020 10-Okay SEC submitting
2015:203 areas Supply: Ollie’s 2015 10-Okay
2011:100 areas Supply: Occasions Herald-Report
2005: 36 areas Supply: Residents Voice
To produce its rising footprint, it consolidated its distribution at a big middle in York, Pennsylvania, in 2008. A second distribution middle was opened in 2014 in Georgia, one yr earlier than Ollie’s preliminary public providing on the inventory market.
Gross sales proceed to develop as Ollie’s opened extra shops in new markets. In 2017, it operated 268 shops with gross sales exceeding $1 billion.
In December 2019, Butler handed away, and former Chief Working Officer John Swygert took over as CEO. The corporate’s East Coast growth continued beneath Swygert, with Ollie’s retailer rely rising to 559 on the finish of 2024, producing $2.3 billion in annual income.
In February 2025, Swygert transitioned to government chairman, clearing the way in which for President Eric Van der Valk to imagine Ollie’s CEO title. Earlier than becoming a member of Ollie’s in 2021 as Chief Working Officer, he was president and COO of Christmas Tree Retailers, the place he’d labored for 15 years.
Large Tons was one among America’s largest low cost retailers, with 1,450 shops close to its peak in 2015. Nevertheless, a collection of missteps that muddied its low cost retailer picture and saddled it with substantial debt took a toll, as Ollie’s and different rivals minimize into its market share.
The corporate, which was based in 1967 by Sol Shenk, was initially recognized for purchasing closeout auto components (Shenk even purchased DeLorean Motors’ property throughout its chapter).
It advanced through the years to promote a variety of off-price merchandise, however in 2013, beneath newly put in CEO David Campisi, Large Tons made an ill-advised shift to promote non-closeout gadgets in its shops, leaving shoppers with a complicated worth expertise.
Large Tons’ gross sales declined, notably after 2021, falling 14% in fiscal 2023 (ending February 3, 2024), 11% in 2022, and 1% in 2021. In its last quarter earlier than declaring chapter on September 9, 2024, Large Tons reported year-to-date gross sales by the second quarter had fallen by 9.2% to $2.1 billion. It additionally $570 million in maturing short-term debt.
Sept. 9, 2024: Large Tons filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety. Supply: Kroll
Jan. 1, 2025: A chapter court docket authorised the sale of 200‑400 Large Tons shops and as much as two distribution facilities to Selection Wholesalers, facilitated by Gordon Brothers. Supply: Reuters
Jan. 14, 2025: Gordon Brothers affords Large Tons retailer leases on the market nationwide (19,000 to 55,000 sq.‑foot properties). Supply: Gordon Brothers
Feb. 27, 2025: Ollie’s Discount Outlet Holdings, Inc. introduced its acquisition of 40 Large Tons retailer leases from Gordon Brothers, bringing its whole of Large Tons‑derived leases to 63. Supply: Ollie’s Discount Outlet Holdings
Large Tons’ restructuring amid chapter included the liquidation of many shops, creating an important alternative for Ollie’s Discount Outlet.
In contrast to Large Tons, Ollie’s stability sheet was sturdy, with no significant long-term debt and lots of of thousands and thousands in money, regardless of its ongoing retailer opening program. The corporate leveraged its monetary power to accumulate 63 leases on Large Tons shops, buying 23 leases in 2024 and one other 40 leases in February 2025.
“These areas are the appropriate dimension, include favorable lease phrases, are situated in present and adjoining commerce areas, and have lengthy serviced worth aware shoppers,” stated Ollie’s CEO van der Valk on the time.
The newly acquired shops bolstered its presence inside probably the most engaging markets. On the identical time, the everlasting closure of many Large Tons areas offered a tailwind, resulting in elevated foot site visitors at 290 Ollie’s shops through the second quarter of 2025.
The mix has accelerated Ollie’s income, with shops reopened beneath Ollie’s model rising quickly and same-store gross sales at present Ollie’s inside former Large Tons markets accelerating at a faster-than-normal tempo.
Total, comparable retailer gross sales at shops open no less than one yr rose 5% within the second quarter, “pushed by a rise in transactions,” in accordance to Helm.
Ollie’s shops and advertising and marketing boast a vibe just like Dealer Joe’s, with old-timey promoting encouraging a treasure-hunt mentality amongst clients looking for “Good Stuff Low-cost.”
Ollie’s Military membership totaled 15.1 million folks on the finish of fiscal 2024, up 8% yr over yr. The corporate says members account for about 80% of gross sales at its shops, which may now be present in 34 states alongside the East Coast. The typical Ollie’s Military member spends 40% extra per go to than nonmembers.
“With so many retailers closing shops or going bankrupt up to now yr, there is a chance to realize market share by increasing our footprint, buying new clients and turning these clients into loyal Ollie’s Military members,” stated van der Valk on the Q2 earnings name.
That is already occurring. Exiting the second quarter, Ollie’s Military loyalty members totaled 16.1 million, a ten.6% enhance from final yr.
However it’s not solely progress by Large Tons’ failure that is driving outcomes. Ollie has ramped up its natural new retailer progress this yr, opening 54 shops through the first six months, which is “4x the variety of shops we opened in the identical interval final yr,” in response to van der Valk.
The corporate sees alternatives arising from shifting buyer habits, forcing shops to reassess their footprints. The corporate is monitoring further retailer closures and bankruptcy-related alternatives, and it plans to keep up a cautious method to new retailer grand openings.
Total, Ollie’s exited the second quarter, throughout which it opened 29 shops, with a goal of 85 new areas this yr, together with the Large Lot shops. In 2026, it expects to exceed its 10% retailer progress purpose once more.
The shop closures even have one other optimistic impression for Ollie’s — extra alternatives to purchase stock.
“There’s so many various sources of closeouts in any given quarter… Our mannequin thrives on disruption,” stated van der Valk. “The retail bankruptcies and retailer closures have definitely resulted in further shopping for alternatives.”
Ollie’s can also be in search of further methods to spice up visits from Ollie’s Military members. It hosted an Ollie’s Day occasion within the second quarter, providing an unique member-only buying evening with promotions tailor-made to members.
“The reimagined occasion was an enormous success and exceeded all expectations. First and most significantly, we rewarded our Ollie’s Military members and purchased an abundance of latest members. Second, the occasion was accretive to gross sales and earnings,” stated van der Valk.
The Ollie’s Days occasion added 1% to the off-price retailers’ comp retailer gross sales in Q2.
It plans an identical Ollie’s Military Day with unique looking for members on Dec. 15.
And it isn’t simply that Ollie’s is profitable with lower- and middle-income consumers. It’s seeing progress throughout all earnings ranges, together with higher-income households, as extra clients shift their spending habits.
In the end, Ollie’s Discount Outlet believes there’s room to function 950 shops in America, offering ample alternatives for additional progress.
The corporate will present an replace on its progress throughout its third quarter earnings name, scheduled for Dec. 9.
Associated: In style TJMaxx rival stumbles as buyer habits shifts
