In this edition of local business news, all Big Lots department stores – including those in Boyertown, Phoenixville, Norristown, Reading, and Lansdale – hold “closing sales.” Three rail freight haulers serving Montgomery, Berks, and Chester counties win improvement project grants from PennDOT.
Big Lots Announces ‘Closing Sales’ at All Its Stores
BOYERTOWN PA – Big Lots, the department store chain with five locations in the TriCounty region, is preparing to close its operations nationwide, according to a company media release Thursday (Dec. 19, 2024).
The company has already closed more than 400 stores, or about a third of its retail operations, this year. A total of 963 remain, including those in Boyertown, Phoenixville, Norristown, Reading, and Lansdale. Big Lots had hoped to sell its operations to a private equity firm, but indicates the deal had fallen through.
Store closures could still be reversed, but the parties nonetheless say they foresee layoffs to reduce the workforce. The company’s statement also says the closing sales would help “to protect the value of its estate” without affecting its potential purchase as “a going concern transaction.”
Big Lots has dealt with financial concerns for some time. It filed for bankruptcy in September (2024), and earlier this year warned that both inflation and retailing competition left “substantial doubt” about whether it could continue.
Image from Google Maps, used by Travels With The Post
Three Local Rail Freight Haulers Earn PennDOT Grants
HARRISBURG PA – Three freight-hauling railroads that operate within Montgomery, Berks and Chester counties are among 30 rail haulers that on Wednesday (Dec. 18, 2024) received a total of $55 million of infrastructure funding.
The grants, from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, are intended to “enhance freight mobility” and create or sustain 344 jobs statewide, it says.
“Expanding and improving Pennsylvania’s rail freight network will support” employment, strengthen local economic development, and “connect Pennsylvania communities to the global economy,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll says.
Local winners on the list of grantees were:
- East Penn Railroad LLC of Kennett Square, receiving $455,000 to rehabilitate eight bridges on its Perkiomen, Octoraro, Lancaster Northern, and York branch lines in Montgomery, Chester, Berks, and York counties;
- Dyer Quarry Inc. of Birdsboro, receiving $498,000 to rehabilitate four yard tracks and replace up to 1,500 rail ties in Berks County; and
- Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad LLC of Lansdale, receiving $489,000 to furnish and install 4,000 new crossties across three miles of its Stony Creek Branch (which runs from Lansdale to Norristown), and six miles of its Bethlehem Branch.
The state Transportation Commission approved the grants from the Rail Transportation Assistance Program, and the Rail Freight Assistance Program.
Photo by Travels With The Post
