On Monday, January 26, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet officially announced they were opening a new location in the former Big Lots store in Milford. The store opening is planned for spring, according to Tom Kuypers, SVP of Marketing and Advertising.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet opened in 1982 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, founded by Mort Bernstein, Mark L. Butler, Harry Coverman and Oliver “Ollie” Rosenberg as a closeout and surplus retailer. The company slogan, “good stuff cheap” helped grow Ollie’s from a regional chain to a national retailer.
Bernstein owned a lumberyard called Lawrence Millwork, but the company was struggling financially due to an unfavorable economy. While visiting Boston, Bernstein visited a local surplus chain called Building 19 and decided to create something similar. Rosenberg visited Building 19 and agreed to work with Coverman, Butler and Bernstein, financing the opening of the first store while also giving it the name “Ollie’s.”
Ollie’s purchases excess inventory, overstocks and bankrupt company goods at low costs. The first store opened on July 29, 1982, in a former Lawrence Millwork building. The advertising campaign included cartoon versions of Rosenberg drawn by various freelance artists along with handwritten puns or jokes. By 1987, there were three stores in central Pennsylvania. Today, the company has 618 locations in 34 states. In 1990, a fourth store was opened with three more opening by 1993.
Rosenberg died of an aneurysm at the age of 75 in 1996, but the chain continued to grow. In July 2015, the company began trading on Nasdaq under the stock symbol “OLLI.” Butler passed away on December 1, 2019, and John Swygert became the CEO. By 2021, the company reported net sales of $1.753 billion.
Against the odds, Ollie’s continues to thrive, focusing exclusively on traditional retailing. The company sells nothing online, but sales have doubled over the last four years. All Ollie’s stores are no-frills, and inventory includes mostly closeouts of excess inventory. These may be items that were originally sold at Target or Walmart, but they either ordered too much or chose to remove from the shelves.
When Big Lots closed in 2025, Ollie’s purchased 63 store leases with the intent to convert them to Ollie’s stores by the end of 2025. The Ollie’s Cares Foundation has been supporting a number of philanthropic causes, including the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, Kevin Harvick Foundation, Feeding America, Toys for Tots and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Each year, the company raises more than $2 million for these organizations.
