The story
LW Stores was founded as Liquidation World in 1986 with the opening of its first store, at 3900 29 St NE, in northeast Calgary, Alberta in Canada. The chain grew and became the largest liquidator in Canada, with more than 1,200 employees in outlets and offices in Canada. It began operating stores in the United States in the early 1990s. Most U.S. stores were opened in locations which had been sold to bankrupt retailers, most notably Ernst Home Centers. Several former Ernst stores were acquired by the chain in the late 1990s. By 2007, due to declining sales the company had shuttered all but three of its U.S. stores. The final American store, located in Spokane, Washington was closed in April 2010 after having been in business for fifteen years.
In December 2013, Big Lots announced that it was closing all LW and Big Lots stores in Canada to focus on its retail operations in its American division. By February 2014, all Canadian Big Lots and LW Stores were closed.
From Wikipedia’s article on LW Stores, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4