Bed Bath & Beyond Files for Bankruptcy, Might Close Remaining Stores
Bed Bath & Beyond is closing around 150 stores. The retailer could close its remaining 360 stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April.
April 24 2023, Updated 11:08 a.m. ET
After an almost 26 percent decline in sales for the second quarter of 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond had to make some “strategic” changes to improve its balance sheet. Part of those changes included closing 150 Bed Bath & Beyond stores across the country. As the retailer braced another round of closures in 2023, it announced on April 23, 2023, that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Which Bed Bath & Beyond stores will close? Is Bed Bath & Beyond going out of business? We've got the answers to all your pressing questions down below.
Bed Bath & Beyond published a list of all the stores it shuttered.
In February 2023, Bed Bath & Beyond shared via its website an updated list of the stores it had closed or intends to close. Included on the list are stores located in Tucson and Phoenix, Ariz., Wichita Falls, Texas, and Stamford, Conn. However, the bad news doesn't end there.
The Bed Bath & Beyond store inside the Sawgrass Mills Mall (Sunrise, Fla.) is now permanently closed in addition to Century 21, which closed in 2020. The outlet shopping mall, which has served as a tourist hotspot for years, has watched many of its commercial spaces become vacant due to declining foot traffic and shifts in consumer spending.
A few other cities that have lost its Bed Bath & Beyond stores or will lose them in the near future include:
- Charlotte, N.C.
- Flanders, N.J.
- Middletown, N.Y.
- Lakewood, Calif.
- Burbank, Calif.
- Sanford, Fla.
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Leesburg, Va.
- Elmsford, N.Y.
The Bed Bath & Beyond stores that closed or are scheduled to close are are considered “lower-producing” Bed Bath & Beyond banner stores.
Besides the company’s banner stores, it owns buybuy Baby and Harmon Face Values stores. Those store locations aren’t included in this round of store closures — yet.
Bed Bath & Beyond cut 20 percent of its workforce.
In August 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that it would be cutting 20 percent of its staff and cut its capital spending plan by almost 40 percent. Although it originally forecasted $400 million in capital expenditures for fiscal 2022, that figure was reduced to $250 million.
The changes aimed to help Bed Bath & Beyond increase customer engagement, drive traffic, and recapture market share, CEO Sue Gove said in a statement. The company also changed its merchandising and inventory strategy and centered its focus on driving digital and foot traffic.
“We believe these changes will have a widespread positive impact across customer experience, inventory assortment, supply chain execution, and cost structure,” Gove said. “The customer underpins our decisions, and we are committed to delivering what they want while driving growth, profitability, and financial returns."
Bed Bath & Beyond has shut down locations over the past few years. Between July 2020 and January 2022, the company shuttered 170 of its Bed Bath & Beyond, buybuy Baby, and Harmon Face Value store locations.
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in April 2023.
If you have any Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, now might be a good time to use them before it's too late. On April 23, 2023, Bed Bath & Beyond announced in a press release that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The news isn’t surprising considering the retailer had hired a law firm specializing in bankruptcy filings last year, according to Bloomberg.
While the retailer was hopeful that it would divert from bankruptcy if it was able to raise $1 billion, it only managed to secure $408 million. While Bed Bath & Beyond navigates the bankruptcy process, it will continue to keep its 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and 120 buybuy BABY stores open. However, the retailer is looking to “wind down its business” and is hoping to “solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets.”
If Bed Bath & Beyond can't find an interested buyer, it will likely resume store closures in 2023. Only time will tell if the company keeps its remaining stores open or if all of them end up closing.
Bed Bath & Beyond stock is down despite a push by retail investors.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock has also taken a nose dive. On Sept. 1, 2022, BBBY shares were trading at about $9, a far cry from the year prior when it was trading at $27.74. Retail inventors in the WallStreetBets Reddit community gave BBBY stock a boost as a “meme stock,” which helped drive shares up over $23 on Aug. 17, 2022. However, the price has dropped considerably since then.
As of April 24, 2023, BBBY stock was trading at $0.23 per share.
Sue Gove now serves as the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond.
In addition to struggling with sales, the retailer has also grappled with its leadership. In June 2022, the company ousted CEO Mark Tritton. Gove, a Bed Bath & Beyond board member, filled in as interim CEO and took on the official title in October 2022.
Additionally, Bed Bath & Beyond made the drastic decision to eliminate its chief operating officer and chief store officer leadership positions. Around the same time Bed Bath & Beyond named Gove as CEO, the company lost its CFO, Gustavo Arnal.
On Sept. 2, 2022, Arnal, who had served as the company's CFO since May 2020, jumped to his death from his high-rise luxury apartment in the Tribeca neighborhood. Some believe Arnal's suicide is connected to a $1.2 billion lawsuit he and others had become the subject of.