COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Big Lots, once one of the country’s largest bargain retail chains, said Thursday it plans to close all remaining stores by January after failing to close a deal to buy the company.

Big Lots said in a news release that it was unable to enter into a purchase agreement with Nexus Capital Management. Bloomberg reports that Big Lots is still in talks with Nexus and another company about rescuing “several hundred” stores rather than the entire chain.

“We have all worked extremely hard and taken every step to complete a going concern sale,” Bruce Thorn, president and chief executive officer of Big Lots, said in a statement. “While we remain hopeful that we can complete an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots property, we have made the difficult decision to begin the (business dissolution) process.”

The press release states that the remaining stores will begin selling out soon.

Columbus-based Big Lots once had more than 1,500 stores across the country but began closing hundreds of stores in June, the Dispatch reports. Four stores closed in Northeast Ohio in October. There are fewer than 1,000 locations left.