Big Lots leaving

The Big Lots store in Three Rivers will be closing shortly after the new year.

Company officials said the retailer, at 1326 Broadway Street, will close Jan. 15, about a month after it begins its going-out-of-business sale.

The seller of closeout and surplus merchandise moved to its current spot in 2005 from North Main Street in Three Rivers. It is the largest tenant in a strip plaza that also includes Dunham’s and Peebles. A fourth storefront remains vacant.

Severance packages will be offered to the store’s 16 employees who choose not to accept a position at Big Lots locations in Kalamazoo, Niles or Coldwater, according to assistant store manager Ursula Jiles

She declined to elaborate on the nature of the closing. Jiles noted the Three Rivers location won an annual regional contest in 2011 and again in 2013 for its cleanliness, service and customer relations.

Officials from the company’s Columbus, Ohio, headquarters were not available for comment Friday.