We have historically experienced and expect to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in our sales and profitability, with a larger percentage of our net sales and operating profit realized in our fourth fiscal quarter, which includes the Christmas holiday selling season. In addition, our quarterly net sales and operating profits can be affected by the timing of new store openings and store closings, advertising, and certain holidays. We historically receive a higher proportion of merchandise, carry higher inventory levels, and incur higher outbound shipping and payroll expenses as a percentage of sales in our third fiscal quarter in anticipation of increased sales activity during our fourth fiscal quarter. Performance during our fourth fiscal quarter typically reflects a leveraging effect which has a favorable impact on our operating results because net sales are higher and certain of our costs, such as rent and depreciation, are fixed and do not vary as sales levels escalate. If our sales performance is significantly better or worse during the Christmas holiday selling season, we would expect a more pronounced impact on our annual financial results than if our sales performance is significantly better or worse in a different season. Our net sales as a percentage of full year in the second quarter of 2020 were disproportionately higher as a result of increased demand arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the demand volatility we have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the seasonality of our 2021 results may also differ from historical experience.

The following table sets forth the seasonality of net sales and operating profit (loss) for 2020, 2019, 2018, and 20172018 by fiscal quarter:

(a) The second quarter of 2020 included a gain on sale of distribution centers and related expenses of $459.1 million related to the sale and leaseback of four distribution centers, which significantly increased second quarter operating profit as a percentage of full year in comparison to 2019 and 2018.

(b) The third quarter of 2019 included a gain on sale of distribution center of $178.5 million, which significantly increased third quarter operating profit as a percentage of full year in comparison to 2018 and 2017.2020.

The statements in this item describe the material risks to our business and should be considered carefully. In addition, these statements constitute cautionary statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

This Form 10-K and in our 2019 Annual Report to Shareholders containcontains forward-looking statements that set forth anticipated results based on management’s plans and assumptions. From time to time, we also provide forward-looking statements in other materials we release to the public and in oral statements that may be made by us. Such forward-looking statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events. They do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Such statements are commonly identified by using words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “approximate,” “expect,” “objective,” “goal,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will,” “should,” “may,” “target,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “outlook,” and similar expressions in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, forward-looking statements include statements relating to future actions, future performance, or results of current and anticipated products, sales efforts, expenses, interest rates, the outcome of contingencies, such as legal proceedings, and financial results.

We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be actualized. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties, and potentially inaccurate assumptions. If known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could differ materially from past results or those anticipated, estimated, or projected results set forth in the forward-looking statements. You should bear this in mind as you consider forward-looking statements made or to be made by us.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC.

The following cautionary discussion of material risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relevant to our businesses describes factors that, individually or in the aggregate, we believe could cause our actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we presently believe to be immaterial also may adversely impact us. Should any risks or uncertainties develop into actual events, these developments could have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity. Consequently, all forward-looking statements made or to be made by us are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the results or developments we anticipate will be realized or that they will have the expected effects on our business or operations. This discussion is provided as permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There can be no assurances that we have correctly and completely identified, assessed, and accounted for all factors that do or may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity, as it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider the following to be a complete discussion of all potential risks or uncertainties.

Our ability to achieve the results contemplated by forward-looking statements is subject to a number of factors, any one or a combination of which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, or liquidity. These factors may include, but are not limited to:

There is a risk that we will be unable to meet or exceed our operating performance targets and goals in the future if our strategies and initiatives are unsuccessful. Our ability to bothexecute and/or refine our operating and strategic plans, and execute the business activities associated with our refined operating and strategic plans,as necessary, including cost savings initiatives, could impact our ability to meet our operating performance targets. Additionally, we must be able to effectively adjust our operating and strategic plans over time to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace. See the MD&A in this Form 10-K for additional information concerning our operating strategy.

We must maintain sufficient inventory levels to successfully operate our business. However, we also must seek to avoid accumulating excess inventory to maintain appropriate in-stock levels based on evolving customer demands. We obtain approximatelyslightly less than one quarter of our merchandise directly from vendors outside of the U.S. These foreign vendors often require lengthy advance notice of our requirements to be able to supply products in the quantities that we request. This usually requires us to order merchandise and enter into purchase order contracts for the purchase of such merchandise well in advance of the time we offer these products are offered for sale. As a result, we may experience difficulty in rapidly responding to a changing retail environment, which makes us vulnerable to changes in price and in consumer preferences. In addition, we attempt to maximize our operating

profit and operating efficiency by delivering proper quantities of merchandise to our stores in a timely manner. If we do not accurately anticipate future demand for a particular product or the time it will take to replenish inventory levels, our inventory levels may not be appropriate and our results of operations may be negatively impacted.

We rely on our ability to replenish depleted merchandise inventory through deliveries to our distribution centers and from the distribution centers to our stores by various means of transportation, including shipments by sea, rail and truck carriers. A decrease in the capacity of carriers (e.g., trans-Pacific freight carrier bankruptcies) and/or labor strikes, disruptions or shortages in the transportation industry could negatively affect our distribution network, our timely receipt of merchandise and/or our transportation costs. In addition, long-term disruptions to the U.S. and international transportation infrastructure from wars, political unrest, terrorism, natural disasters, pandemic diseases, governmental budget constraints and other significant events that lead to delays or interruptions of service could adversely affect our business. Also, a fire, earthquake, or other disaster at one of our distribution centers could disrupt our timely receipt, processing and shipment of merchandise to our stores which could adversely affect our business. Additionally, as we seek to expand our operation through the implementation of our online retail capabilities, we may face increased or unexpected demands on distribution center operations, as well as new demands on our distribution network. Furthermore,Lastly, global pandemics, such as we relocate our distribution center operations in California, we may experience (1) increased selling and administrative expenses associated with the transition during 2020, and (2) initial operational challenges as we adopt new automation technologies. Lastly, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, could lead to the shutdown of parts, or all, of our distribution network and generally disrupt our ability to receipt,receive, process, and ship merchandise to our stores.stores and meet the demand of our customers.

In the normal course of business, we process and collect relevant data about our customers, employees and vendors. The protection of our customer, employee, vendor and company data and information is critical to us. We have implemented procedures, processes and technologies designed to safeguard our customers’ debit and credit card information and other private data, our employees’ and vendors’ private data, and our records and intellectual property. We utilize third-party service providers in connection with certain technology related activities, including credit card processing, website hosting, data encryption and software support. We require these providers to take appropriate measures to secure such data and information and assess their ability to do so.

Despite our procedures, technologies and other information security measures, we cannot be certain that our information technology systems or the information technology systems of our third-party service providers are or will be able to prevent, contain or detect all cyberattacks, cyberterrorism, or security breaches. As evidenced by other retailers who have suffered serious security breaches, we may be vulnerable to data security breaches and data loss, including cyberattacks. A material breach of our security measures or our third-party service providers’ security measures, the misuse of our customer, employee, vendor and company data or information or our failure to comply with applicable privacy and information security laws and regulations could result in the exposure of sensitive data or information, attract a substantial amount of negative media attention, damage our customer or employee relationships and our reputation and brand, distract the attention of management from their other responsibilities, subject us to government enforcement actions, private litigation, penalties and costly response measures, and result in lost sales and a reduction in the market value of our common shares. While we have insurance,taken action to mitigate our financial risk, in the

In addition, the regulatory environment surrounding data and information security and privacy is increasingly demanding, as new and revised requirements are frequently imposed across our business. Compliance with more demanding privacy and information security laws and standards may result in significant expense due to increased investment in technology and the development of new operational processes.

Global sourcing of many of these systems so thatthe products we can continue to support our business. Various componentssell is an important factor in driving higher operating profit. During 2020, we purchased approximately 21% of our information technologyproducts, at cost, directly from overseas vendors, including 13% from vendors located in China. Additionally, a significant amount of our domestically-purchased merchandise is manufactured abroad. Our ability to identify qualified vendors and computer systems,to access products in a timely and efficient manner is a significant challenge, especially with respect to goods sourced outside of the U.S. Global sourcing and foreign trade involve numerous risks and uncertainties beyond our control, including hardware, networks,increased shipping costs, increased import duties, more restrictive quotas, loss of most favored nation trading status, currency and software, are licensed to us by third party vendors. We rely extensively on our information technology and computer systems to process transactions, summarize results, and manage our business. Our information technology and computer systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, cyberattacks or other security breaches, obsolescence, catastrophic eventsexchange rate fluctuations, work stoppages, transportation delays, economic uncertainties such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, actsinflation, foreign government regulations, political unrest, pandemic diseases, natural disasters, war, terrorism, trade restrictions and tariffs (including retaliation by the U.S. against foreign practices or by foreign countries against U.S. practices), the financial stability of warvendors, or terrorism,merchandise quality issues. U.S. policy on trade restrictions is ever-changing and usage errors bymay result in new laws, regulations, or treaties that increase the costs of importing goods and/or limit the scope of available foreign vendors. These and other issues affecting our employees or our contractors. In recent years, we have begun using vendor-hosted solutions for certain of our information technology and computer systems, which are more exposed to telecommunication failures.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to general manufacturing and supply chain disruption in the U.S. economy. Our business and financial performance may be adversely impacted by currentglobally, including manufacturers and future economic conditions, including factorssupply chains that may restrict or otherwise negatively impact consumer financing, disposable income levels, unemployment levels, energyproduce our retail merchandise, supplies, and fixtures. To the extent our manufacturers, supply chain and associated costs interest rates, recession, inflation, tax reform, natural disasters, pandemic diseases, or terrorist activities and other matters that influence consumer spending. Specifically, our Soft Home, Hard Home, Furniture and Seasonal merchandise categories may be threatened when disposable income levels are negatively impactedaffected by economic conditions, such as the significant rise in U.S. unemployment in March 2020 related to the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The COVID-19 coronavirus has rapidly spread throughout the U.S., which could negatively impact consumer shopping habits for an unknown duration of time. It is impossible to predict the effect and ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the situation is rapidly evolving. Additionally, the net salesincluding delayed shipment of cyclicalseasonally sensitive product offerings, in our Seasonal categorybusiness, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity may be threatened when we experience extended periods of unseasonable weather. Inclement weather can also negatively impact our Furniture category, as many customers transport the product home personally. In particular, the economic conditions and weather patterns of four states (California, Texas, Florida, and Ohio) are important as approximately 33% of our current stores operate and 34% of our 2019 net sales occurred in these states.materially adversely affected.

We are exposed to the risk that new federal or state legislation, including new product safety and hazardous material laws and regulations, may negatively impact our operations, increase our cost of doing business and adversely affect our operating performance. Changes in product safety legislation or regulations may lead to product recalls and the disposal or write-off of merchandise, as well as fines or penalties and reputational damage. If our merchandise and food products do not meet applicable governmental safety standards or our customers’ expectations regarding quality or safety, we could experience lost sales, increased costs and be exposed to legal and reputational risk.

In addition, if we discard or dispose of our merchandise, particularly that which is non-salable, in a fashion that is inconsistent with jurisdictional standards, we could expose ourselves to certain fines and litigation costs related to hazardous material regulations. Our inability to comply on a timely basis with regulatory requirements, execute product recalls in a timely manner, or consistently implement waste management standards, could result in fines or penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. In addition, negative customer perceptions regarding the safety of the products we sell could cause us to lose market share to our competitors. If this occurs, it may be difficult for us to regain lost sales.

Our insurance coverage is subject to deductibles, self-insured retentions, limits of liability and similar provisions that we believe are prudent based on our overall operations. We may incur certain types of losses that we cannot insure or which we believe are not economically reasonable to insure, such as losses due to acts of war, employee and certain other crime, some natural disasters, and pandemic diseases. If we incur these losses and they are material, our business could suffer. Certain material events may result in sizable losses for the insurance industry and adversely impact the availability of adequate insurance coverage or result in excessive premium increases. To offset negative cost trends in the insurance market, we may elect to self-insure, accept higher deductibles or reduce the amount of coverage in response to these market changes. In addition, we self-insure a significant portion of expected losses under our workers’ compensation, general liability, including automobile, and group health insurance programs. Unanticipated changes in any applicable actuarial assumptions and management estimates underlying our recorded liabilities for these self-insured losses, including potential increases in medical and indemnity costs, could result in significantly different expenses than expected under these programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Although we continue to maintain property insurance for catastrophic events, we are self-insured for losses up to the amount of our deductibles. If we experience a greater number of self-insured losses than we anticipate, our financial performance could be adversely affected.

We may need to borrow funds under our $700 million five-year unsecured credit facility (“2018 Credit Agreement”) from time to time, depending on operating or other cash flow requirements. The 2018 Credit Agreement contains financial and other covenants, including, but not limited to, limitations on indebtedness, liens, and investments, as well as the maintenance of a leverage ratio and a fixed charge coverage ratio. A severe short-term economic downturn, potentially brought on by the COVID-19 coronavirus, may challenge our ability to maintain compliance with these covenants. Additionally, we are subject to cross-default provisions under the synthetic lease agreement (the “Synthetic Lease”) that we entered in connection with our new distribution center in California. A violation of any of these covenants may permit the lenders to restrict our ability to borrow additional funds, provide letters of credit under the 2018 Credit Agreement and may require us to immediately repay any outstanding loans. Our failure to comply with these covenants may have a material adverse effect on our capital resources, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity.

We are required by accounting rules to periodically assess our property and equipment and intangible assets for impairment and recognize an impairment loss, if necessary. In performing these assessments, we use our historical financial performance to determine whether we have potential impairments or valuation concerns and as evidence to support our assumptions about future financial performance. A significant decline in our financial performance could negatively affect the results of our assessments of the recoverability of our property and equipment, deferred tax assets, and our intangible assets and trigger the impairment of these assets. Impairment charges taken against property and equipment and intangible assets could be material and could have a material adverse impact on our capital resources, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity.

None.

All of our stores are located in the U.S., predominantly in strip shopping centers, and have an average store size of approximately 32,40032,700 square feet, of which an average of 22,60022,700 is selling square feet. For additional information about the properties in our retail operations, see the discussion under the caption “Real Estate” in “Item 1. Business” and under the caption “Real Estate” in MD&A in this Form 10-K.

The average cost to open a new store in a leased facility during 20192020 was approximately $1.8$1.7 million, including the cost of construction, fixtures, and inventory. All of our stores are leased, except for the 5250 stores we own in the following states:

Additionally, we own onetwo closed sitesites which we are not currently operating and one of those sites is available for sale. Since thisthese owned site issites are no longer operating as an active store, it hasstores, they have been excluded from our store counts since February 2, 2019.at January 30, 2021.

Store leases generally obligate us for fixed monthly rental payments plus the payment, in most cases, of our applicable portion of real estate taxes, common area maintenance costs (“CAM”), and property insurance. Some leases require the payment of a percentage of sales in addition to minimum rent. Such payments generally are required only when sales exceed a specified level. Our typical store lease is for an initial minimum term of approximately ten years with multiple five-year renewal options. Twenty-nineTwenty-six store leases have sales termination clauses that allow us to exit the location at our option if we do not achieve certain sales volume results.

The following table summarizes the number of store lease expirations in each of the next five fiscal years and the total thereafter. As stated above, many of our store leases have renewal options. The table also includes the number of leases that are scheduled to expire each year that do not have a renewal option. The table includes leases for stores with more than one lease and leases for stores not yet open and excludes 1018 month-to-month leases and 5250 owned locations.

At February 1, 2020,January 30, 2021, we ownedleased and operated approximately 7.69.0 million square feet of distribution center and warehouse space in fourfive distribution facilities and leased approximately 2.8 million square feet of distribution center and warehouse space in two distribution facilities. We typically operate five regional distribution centers strategically located inacross the United States. At February 1,In the first quarter of 2020, we occupied and operated six regional distribution centers while we transitionedcompleted the transition of operations from our former Rancho Cucamonga, CaliforniaCA distribution center operations to our new Apple Valley, CaliforniaCA distribution center.center, which we opened in the fourth quarter of 2019. The regional distribution centers utilize warehouse management technology, which we believe enables highly accurate and efficient processing of merchandise from vendors to our retail stores. The combined output of our regional distribution centers was approximately 2.32.4 million merchandise cartons per week in 2019. 2020.

Certain vendors deliver merchandise directly to our stores when it supports our operational goal to deliver merchandise from our vendors to the sales floor in the most efficient manner. We operate ouran e-commerce fulfillment center out of our Columbus, OhioOH warehouse. In 2020, to supplement our Columbus, OH e-commerce fulfillment center, we began fulfilling direct-ship e-commerce orders from 47 of our store locations, which we strategically selected based on geographic location, size, and other relevant factors.

Distribution centers and warehouse space, and the corresponding square footage of the facilities, by location at February 1, 2020,January 30, 2021, were as follows:

In 2018, we moved our corporate headquarters to a new leased facility within Columbus, Ohio. In 2019, we exercised our purchase option to acquire our headquarters facility and completed the purchase transaction in October 2019.

None.

Our executive officers at March 31, 202030, 2021 were as follows: