HOME IMPROVEMENT

35th annual home design and gardening expo returns to San Antonio in October

The San Antonio Fall Home and Garden Show is the perfect place for DIY-lovers looking for that next project.

Photo courtesy of Marketplace Events

San Antonio gardeners, get your hats and tool bags ready. The 35th annual San Antonio Fall Home and Garden Show is returning to the Alamodome the weekend of October 6-8.

The show is the perfect place for DIY-lovers looking for that next project, for those who need some inspiration or advice from experts, and for anyone who wants to check out the gorgeous displays and shop around the spirited atmosphere.

YouTube personality, home improvement expert, and native Texan April Wilkerson will be the show's special guest speaker on October 6-7. She started her blog a decade ago, and has grown her following thanks to her written and visual tutorials. Since then, she has appeared on the History Channel's More Power with Tim Allen and Richard Karn.

"April Wilkerson has been called a Maker, a DIYer, a Woodworker and Metalworker," the San Antonio Home and Garden Show website says. "All are apt, but regardless of the label, April makes stuff that she wants or needs instead of buying it or hiring it out. It’s her goal to be able to look around her home and have a hard time finding something she didn’t make with her own two hands."

Other activities that will be available at the San Antonio Fall Home and Garden Show include:

Fresh Ideas Stage for presentations
Ask An Arborist panels
Home Depot Kids Zone
Barbiecore designer rooms
A runway pet show and dog house silent auction
Sports lounge
Made in Texas Marketplace

The San Antonio Fall Home and Garden Show will take place from 12-8 pm on Friday, October 6, from 10 am to 8 pm on October 7, and from 11 am to 6 pm on October 8. Tickets are $8 online and $10 at the door, and admission is free for children under 16. More information about the show can be found on their website.

san antonio home-design home and garden

GOB Sale

Big Lots holds going out of business sales at all San Antonio stores

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Big Lots

Discount retail chain Big Lots is hosting a massive "GOB" — going out of business — sale, in anticipation of a possible company-wide closure.

The Columbus, Ohio-based chain has not come out and said it is going out of business — but instead that is holding the going-out-of-business sales to protect the value of the company.

"We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale," Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement. "While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process."

The sell-off comes after a stalled sale of Big Lots to Nexus Capital Management, which was in motion after Big Lots initiated bankruptcy proceedings under Chapter 11 in September.

At that time, they executed a first round of closings — a total of 344 stores that included just one in the San Antonio area. More rounds of closures followed in the coming months.

On December 19, Big Lots determined that the sale would not be moving forward.

According to Fast Company, Big Lots did not explain why it was unable to complete a sale to Nexus, other than reports that an appraisal of Big Lots' inventory came in below expectations, which would make it unviable for Nexus Capital Management buy the company.

While they continue to look for alternatives, the plan now is to do the GOB sale in anticipation of a company shutdown.

Fans will miss Big Lots for their good-quality furniture, household goods, seasonal items, and gourmet foodstuffs, as well as basics like cleaning products and cereal.

There are currently five stores remaining in the San Antonio area:

Northeast San Antonio: 13926 Nacogdoches Rd.
Lackland: 1739 S.W. Loop 410
Southeast San Antonio: 2902 Goliad Rd.
Castle Hills: 3715 Colony Dr.
Leon Valley: 7723 Guilbeau Rd.

closings