Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, a national closeout merchandise and excess inventory retailer, opened a new location in Iowa City last month.

Located at 1660 Sycamore St., in the former Lucky Grocery store space, the opening marked Ollie’s 500th location in its 30th state.

Ollie’s has worked with Children’s Miracle Network since 2007, and upheld its mission to help children in need with a $100,000 donation to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s hospital.

Map by Natalie Dunlap 

“It's really part of our commitment to giving back to the communities we have stores in,” Chance said. “We've raised roughly $4 million in funds to support children's hospitals. It's about 90 hospitals nationwide that we've supported.”

The store is popular for its large discounts, often with as much as 70 percent off original retail prices.

“We're continuing to expand westward,” said Iowa’s Ollie’s district manager Michael Chance. “We started off on the East Coast, and now the Iowa City store is our 500th store. We have a lot of stores now in Michigan, Indiana, and many stores in Illinois, so basically 500 stores in 30 states.”

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The Iowa City store has seen lots of traffic since its opening, Chance said.

“We've had a lot of customers that didn't know what Ollie’s was, and they're already coming back multiple times to visit the store,” Chance said.