Big Lots

Love me some Big Lots, but DID NOT like this store.
1.) It’s smaller than most; not a good selection of items.
2.) Young girl at register didn’t speak when I walked in – not that I expected it in this day and age of limited customer service skills – but looked at me like I came in to steal.
I’ll stick to the 44^th/​Wadsworth location.

This is the cleanest of the Best Lots, spiffy and sharp. I bought some faux mink blankets for $ 30 and one fell apart on its third day fo use. But in general, lots o good buys to be had.
Unless its close out time, stay away from the vastly over priced furniture.

I can never walk out of here without an armful of bargains. Whether it’s the perfect pantry to supplement my kitchen cabinet space, specialty foods marked down to deliciously low prices, or an after-​Christmas sale that will have all of next holiday season’s gift recipients in awe, I always find something spectacular.

They had what I was looking for, but the place is weird. Smells weird, looks weird, with weird staff that looks like they just smoked something someone made in their lab.

If OMG means Oh! Mad GHETTO… then this Big Lots is the exact OMG place.
Bullet holes in the front doors? Check.
Filthy, peeling, cracked floors? Check.
Terrifingly old, outdated, dry, expired and cheap foodstuffs? Check.
Sketchy clientele? Check.
HOWEVER…
The staff *actually* answered the phone, was HELPFUL over the phone, and even more so in the store.
Bumped it from a «Stay the EFF Away» rating to an A-​OK rating
The help makes the business, and the guy working furniture on the night I needed that ottoman (impulse shopper anyone?) made it all worth my while.
If you’re looking for cheap… it’s here.
You might want to bring some Pepper Spray, though.

It’s worth making the trek out to the West Si-​yeed to visit this Big Lots. Miles better than the one in the Baker District, and no urine smell ta’ boot! As mentioned in one of the Baker reviews, this store (the Lakewood one) is one of the larger and more fully-​stocked in the Denver area. It even has an entire furniture department, which, while not my primary reason for visiting the place, looked like it had some good deals on pretty nice stuff!
However, I needed cushions for my patio chairs, so to the «cushions for patio chairs» aisle I went. Indeed, there were plenty to choose from! I managed to becushion all eight of my patio chairs for $ 120. Similar becushioning at Target or Home Depot would’ve run me into the $ 350 range. I know, because I checked. I’m a bargain-​shopper, yo.
Bonus: a garden gnome for $ 6!
Big Lots isn’t going to win any awards for haute couture (yes, they do actually have clothes here, but I’d steer far clear of that department… Big Lots undies? Eewwwww!) or expensive gifts. I’d never in a million years buy toys for my kid here because I’m sure they’re absolutely DRIPPING with lead paint from China. And although they do sell snacky-​foods and personal hygiene products, I wouldn’t recommend putting anything from their shelves ON or IN your body. But for what it is, Big Lots kicks ass. And this particular Big Lots– on the West Si-​yeed– kicks it the most.
Four stars for being THE place to go for spiffing up your outdoor living space on the cheap. Patio chairs, wind chimes, tiki lamps, funky-​cool plastic «glass“ware and dinnerware, gardening tools, pots and potting soil, beach towels, hoses, sprinklers, accent fencing, and yes… garden gnomes. What more could a person want?