Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based discount retailer that sells name brand closeout inventory, is moving into the Capital Region.
The company has signed a lease for a 28,000-square-foot space in the Eastlake Shopping Center at the intersection of La. 30 and La. 44 in Gonzales. Company officials say the store is scheduled to open late in the first quarter of next year.
Two other stores in Louisiana, currently under construction in Deridder and Bossier, will open before then, according to Ollie’s Vice President for Real Estate Jerry Altland.
In the meantime, the chain—which has more than 200 outlets around the U.S.—is scouting for additional locations in East Baton Rouge Parish and plans to further expand into the market over the next 18 months.
“We think Louisiana will be a very good state for us,” Altland says. “It is contiguous growth for us. We’re in Mississippi today and it is is the next logical state to enter.”
Real estate broker Donnie Jarreau, who is working with the company, says he is in negotiations with Ollie’s for leases of two sites in East Baton Rouge Parish.
While many brick-and-mortar retailers are shuttering their big box stores in response to increasing competition from online retailers, Ollie’s is defying market trends and analysts are taking notice.
In the past 15 months, company profits have reportedly increased 37% while sales have increased 13%. Since the company’s stock went public in 2015, shares have nearly doubled.
Altland attributes the company’s success to its business model.
“We’re a value-oriented retailer,” he says. “We’re into buying name products and selling them from 30 to 70 percent cheaper. We buy smart, and that’s the big thing—we know how to buy.”
