Big Lots opened its first Middle Peninsula store last week and will hold a grand opening ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday. The discount department store is located in the Shoppes of Gloucester, off Route 17 south of Gloucester Court House.

During Friday’s opening ceremonies, Big Lots officials will present a check for $2,500 to Gloucester High School, store manager Danny Landen said. Corporate officials will tour the 25,000-square-foot store (which once housed a Winn-Dixie supermarket) with Gloucester Board of Supervisors’ chairman Buddy Rilee, sheriff Steve Gentry and other invited guests, who will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Giveaways are also planned for shoppers coming in that day.

Big Lots specializes in offering a varying selection of products procured in close-outs, Landen said. Also, the company offers many gourmet-quality private label food products at discount prices such as snacks and grocery staples.

The new store stocks many types of packaged ...