Ollie’s Bargain to open in Peru

An Ollie’s Bargain outlet is opening in Peru next to Dunham’s Sports at 1610 36th St.

Ollie’s is the nation’s largest retailer of closeout merchandise and excess inventory, according to its website.

“You’ll find real brands at real bargain prices in every department, from housewares to sporting goods to flooring and to food,” read the website. “Ollie’s buyers scour the world looking for closeouts, overstocks, package changes, manufacturer refurbished goods, and irregulars.”

A picture of the building permit in the window of the location Saturday was shared by Doug Bernabei, mayoral candidate in Peru.

Much of the merchandise comes directly from manufacturers in the country and abroad. For example, if a manufacturer makes too much of an item or changes their packaging, Ollie’s buys the overstocked or old packaged items. While you will find brand name products, many of them could be last year’s colors, patterns or packaging traditional retailers won’t sell. Ollie’s also purchases remaining inventory when companies are liquidating.

In a video shared by Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski’s Facebook page on Saturday, the mayor said Ollie’s has been in the works for over a year.

“When you have warehouses running goods and services on [I-80] and [I-39] they like to have a place to sell their goods and that’s why we pivoted immediately and we’ve been working on this a long time,” he said.

The city worked with the company on finding a location, originally looking at moving Ollie’s into the current Rural King location because Rural King was “too crowded,” he said. Rural King would have moved to the former Sears, but this plan didn’t work out, he said. The city also suggested the former Sears location to Ollie’s before the retailer landed on the 36th Street location.

Kolowski confirmed the city is working with other retailers to potentially locate in Peru, but couldn’t provide more details at this time.

A 615,000-square-foot Ollie’s Bargain Outlet distribution center is being built in Princeton, a project that will create about 200 full-time jobs in the Illinois Valley. The center is expected to open this year.

The Princeton facility is expected to be a large part of the company’s growth in the Midwest. The center will serve stores throughout Illinois and surrounding states and will help Ollie’s move toward its goal of more than 1,050 stores nationwide. Ollie’s has nearby locations in Rock Falls, Peoria, DeKalb, Aurora and Rockford.

The location at 1610 36th St. was the most recent home of Second Time Around and the longtime home of Joann Fabrics, which is now in the Peru Mall.

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