The new Big Lots store in Clovis is scheduled to open Nov. 1, replacing a previous location where a clearance sale is ongoing to reduce merchandise.

Two Big Lots stores in Fresno and Clovis are scheduled to relocate next month.

The first to move will be the Clovis store at the Shaw Village shopping center, 456 W. Shaw Ave. The new location is being prepared at a former Rite Aid store less than three miles to the north at the Sierra Pavilions shopping Center, 1155 W. Shaw Ave.

The Big Lots logo has been erected on the building, along with a sign for the new store off Shaw Avenue, and numerous shelves inside have been assembled, but that store isn’t set to open until Nov. 1.

Meanwhile a few miles west in Fresno, the former Toys ‘R’ Us store at 3520 W. Shaw Ave. has had its sign replaced with the Big Lots logo and a banner stating the new store is coming soon.

A sign in front of the currently-operating Big Lots about a half mile west at 3131 W. Shaw Ave. states that store will move to the new locale, which is set to open Nov. 30.

In the meantime, both stores are having clearance sales to reduce their inventories ahead of the moves.

As for the new stores, besides being in newly renovated buildings, they may have other, significant differences from their old locale.

Repeated calls and emails to representatives at Big Lots’ corporate headquarters in Ohio weren’t returned, but various news reports have covered the company’s plans to create new “stores of the future” to make them more competitive in the current retail market.

“The store reflects a new format showcasing the ownable and winnable merchandise categories of furniture, seasonal, soft home, food and consumables with prominent positioning in the store and is part of a broader initiative to reposition the brand as a community retailer offering trustworthy value and friendly service,” states a November Big Lots press release on the opening of one of its new stores in Ohio.

The company has yet to announce on its website the planned openings of the two Valley stores, so it’s unclear if they also are being developed in Big Lots’ “store of the future” mold.

Also unclear is if there are plans to relocate or renovate the other Valley Big Lots stores. Employees at the two other Fresno stores and the individual ones in Reedley, Visalia, Tulare and Hanford said no such plans currently are in the works.

But an employee at the Tulare store said plans are to expand further into the former Mervyn’s department store, part of which it already occupies, while the Big Lots at 4895 E. Kings Canyon Road in Fresno will be renovated.