Ollie's Bargain Outlet opened its first North Jersey store on Thursday, moving into a former Big Lots at 550 Mount Pleasant Ave. in Dover, right next to Home Depot and not far from Rockaway Townsquare mall. The closeout retailer held its grand-opening event at 9 a.m., marking a milestone expansion for a chain that has spent the past two years scooping up vacated Big Lots real estate across the state and the country.
The company describes itself as “America's largest retailer of closeout merchandise and excess inventory,” according to a company announcement promoting the Dover opening. As reported by northjersey.com, the Dover store gives Ollie's a foothold in North Jersey for the first time, while its 11 other New Jersey locations — in Bridgeton, Browns Mills, Cherry Hill, Clementon, Deptford, Egg Harbor Township, Hamilton, Lawrence Township, Lumberton, Old Bridge and Toms River — remain concentrated in Central and South Jersey, spanning Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex and Ocean counties.
What Shoppers Will Find on the Shelves
Ollie's bills itself as a discount retailer specializing in closeout and bargain merchandise, with the Dover store stocking books, food, toys, electronics, home goods, furniture, flooring, seasonal items, cleaning supplies and hardware, per northjersey.com's report. The chain's own marketing for the Dover opening promises deals at up to 70% off “the fancy stores' prices,” according to the ollies.com announcement.
The new store will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Ollie's said in its grand-opening post. The company's announcement did not break out separate weekend hours, though northjersey.com's report on the opening listed Sunday hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the location — a detail not independently confirmed elsewhere.
A Chain Still Feeding on Big Lots' Collapse
The Dover opening is the latest step in a broader land grab that began after Big Lots filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2024, according to Retail TouchPoints. Ollie's announced in February 2025 that it had acquired 40 additional former Big Lots store leases from Gordon Brothers, a deal that was subject to final bankruptcy court approval and customary closing conditions, bringing its total to 63 former Big Lots leases acquired to that point, the company said in an investor release.
By June 2025, Ollie's reported that it had opened 25 new stores nationwide since the start of the year, including 18 former Big Lots locations, which the company described as “off to a very strong start,” according to USA Today. That wasn't Ollie's first time picking through a bankrupt rival's footprint: the company bought a dozen former Toys ‘R’ Us locations in 2018 for about $42 million, per a report from modernretail.co.
Growth Numbers Keep Climbing
As of Aug. 1, Ollie's said it operated 686 stores across 36 states, a figure reported in the company's second-quarter earnings release. That release also noted the company had opened 15 new stores and closed one tied to storm damage during the quarter, while net sales rose 9.1% to $741.3 million, driven largely by new-store growth.
USA Today reported that Ollie's was set to open eight more stores across seven states by the end of October, with the Dover store specifically listed among new openings scheduled for Thursday. Just months before Dover, Ollie's opened another New Jersey store in Clementon, at 165 White Horse Pike, Suite B — also in a section of a shopping center previously occupied by Big Lots — with nearby stores already running in Deptford and Cherry Hill, according to a report from nj.com.
Why the Closeout Business Keeps Expanding
Ollie's CEO John Swygert has pointed to a simple dynamic behind the company's growth: the closeout sector is expanding even as the number of major players shrinks, he said, according to modernretail.co. The company's loyalty program, Ollie's Army, has grown alongside the store count, adding 9% to reach 15.5 million members in its most recent quarter, per a report from forbes.com.
That growth trajectory tracks with the company's own targets. Ollie's said in its February 2025 release that it planned to open approximately 75 units that year, above its standard 10% annual growth target, after opening more than 100 of its locations over the prior three years. The Dover store's debut suggests that expansion machine hasn't slowed as it rolls into new corners of New Jersey.
