Bed Bath & Beyond Closing the Doors

[Jim Koepke]

Filed for Bankruptcy search your favorite news source.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1152070914/bed-bath-the-great-beyond-how-the-home-goods-giant-went-bankrupt

Coupons may be good until Wednesday.

jtk

[Patty Hann]

Filed for Bankruptcy search your favorite news source.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1152070914/bed-bath-the-great-beyond-how-the-home-goods-giant-went-bankrupt

Coupons may be good until Wednesday.

jtk

A long, slow decline. Everyone saw it coming even before COVID. COVID was the last nail in the coffin. Sad.

[Bill Dufour]

Never been, don't care, wonder why they went bankrupt.
Bill D

[Patty Hann]

Never been, don't care, wonder why they went bankrupt.
Bill D
Went there two dozen times maybe in the last 30 years or so, mostly because friends had their wedding gift registry there and so it was easy to buy the gift...no guesswork.
But in the last 10 years no matter what time of day I went it was nearly empty (of people). Maybe 2 clerks and a handfull of shoppers. Didn't matter if it was a Saturday or a Monday....hardly anyone there.

[Brian Elfert]

I haven't been in one of their stores since before COVID. The couple of times I was in one of their stores I wondered how there were enough sales to keep huge stores like that in business. The stores seemed stuffed to the gills with inventory back then.

[Paul F Franklin]

Marketplace on NPR had a short story on this. Seems the new company leadership, which took over before Covid, pulled much of the name brand stuff in favor of house branded merch and as a result, they missed out on most of the Covid buying fever when folks were spending tons of money improving their homes since they were spending so much more time at home. Folks went big for things like Kitchenaid mixers and other high end appliances and BBB didn't have it on the shelves.

They also talked about what is likely to happen to all the big, empty stores in prime locations given the economic uncertainty these days, but an analyst they interviewed said the market for prime retail is actually pretty good right now, better than immediately pre-covid.

I need to dig through the gift card pile and see if we have any BBB cards to spend before they become worthless. I suppose it's always possible some white knight will buy them out of bankruptcy and try to revive them...

[Stan Calow]

I am sorry to hear this. I dont like not having local shopping options where I can see and buy things on the spot. I dont want to depend on Amazon et al for everything.

I've heard that we've lost more jobs in retail than in manufacturing in the last couple of decades.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

They closed here almost a year ago. They certainly did not want our business. All those darn candles and smelly crap at the entrance door. Both Mrs. and I would have to take a deep breath and charge 40 ft into the store to avoid breathing problems from all the fragrance. We weren't the only ones who complained about it too. Back in the 1960 and 1970's there were several chains of kitchen specialty stores. They have almost all closed. Bed Bath and beyond did have a reasonable selection of kitchen ware. But we have a few large kitchen stores within a short drive. Mrs. and I have both gotten a little more persnickety about our kitchen ware. Knives are all Wusthoff, all the baking pans, cookie sheets, etc are stainless steel, so much easier to clean and go in the dishwasher. Mrs. got some kind of glass dishware somewhere. don't know what brand, but the stuff almost cleans itself and it's lightweight. (Similar to the corelle ware we once had, but much nicer) Flatwear is all Henckles and I believe did come from Bed Bath and Beyond. The forks are polished between the tines and food doesn't stick there. We have learned also where to look on line for better quality stuff. I suppose many of the companies customers have as well.

[Mel Fulks]

Mall walking is over. Too many slow walking teens were being run-over by grumpy old people . Amazon is mauling malls.

[Jim Koepke]

I suppose it's always possible some white knight will buy them out of bankruptcy and try to revive them...

This article from January indicates that may be unlikely > https://www.investorsobserver.com/news/qm-news/8424504334052398

Some bad business decisions have kind of messed things up for BBBY.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Just saw this on CBS News dot Com:


How long can I shop in stores?
Customers can still shop at Bed Bath & Beyond stores, but locations will start to close as soon as Wednesday, April 26. The online store and mobile app is still operational, although the company hasn't said if those shopping options will remain open during the bankruptcy proceedings. Anyone who bought something online but hasn't received it will still have their order fulfilled.

Can I still use rewards, store credits, coupons and gift cards?
Welcome Rewards (which is Bed Bath & Beyond's frequent shopper points program) and in-store credits will be accepted until May 15. Gift cards will be good until May 8, and coupons will be accepted until Wednesday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bed-bath-beyond-closing-sales-coupons-gift-cards-deadline/

jtk

[Andrew More]

Mall walking is over. Too many slow walking teens were being run-over by grumpy old people . Amazon is mauling malls.

Class A Retail is doing pretty well. Amazon is making their own set of mistakes, starting with all the scammy OEMs and alphabet soup "brands". I think we're going to continue to see a decline in class B & C retail, and an overall shrink in brick and mortar, but it's not going away, and neither are malls. A lot of the problems with BBB are self-inflicted, and not necessarily indicative of all retail.

[Jonathan Pace]

It's a sad reality that many businesses are facing today, especially after COVID. More traffic was shifted to online shopping, and those retailers like Amazon have retained those 'new' customers. Many retailers cannot compete with that.

[Jim Koepke]

A lot of the problems with BBB are self-inflicted, and not necessarily indicative of all retail.

Some of the problems listed in various accounts:

- Not paying supplier so the cash on hand looked good in quarterly reports. This caused some vendors to not ship product before payment.
-This caused some stores to have less inventory. Empty shelves do not inspire shoppers to buy.

- Too many managers and not enough workers. This is always makes a bad situation.

- Replacing name branded premium products with cheaper lower quality products. This really ruined them when covid hit and customers were staying home and wanted to redo their housewares to better quality. It also hurt during Christmas shopping last year.

Management seems to have followed a path similar to other large retailers who have dropped off of the retail landscape.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

I suppose it's always possible some white knight will buy them out of bankruptcy and try to revive them...

The most likely outcome is someone will buy the brand name and web domain for $5 million to $10 million. There is a company that has purchased a bunch of "failed" retail brand names and web domains including Montgomery Wards. They likely don't make huge amounts of money, but they probably have one customer service center for all brands and the reps just answer with the correct brand name. The inventory in their distribution center(s) is probably all the same and just goes into the box with the correct brand name on it.

[Paul F Franklin]

The most likely outcome is someone will buy the brand name and web domain for $5 million to $10 million. There is a company that has purchased a bunch of "failed" retail brand names and web domains including Montgomery Wards. They likely don't make huge amounts of money, but they probably have one customer service center for all brands and the reps just answer with the correct brand name. The inventory in their distribution center(s) is probably all the same and just goes into the box with the correct brand name on it.

My wife has certainly noticed this with women's clothing... Women within, Roamans, Jessica London, etc, etc.

[roger wiegand]

I went into one once, didn't buy anything, didn't see any reason to go back. That's true of almost all of the sundry big box stores. I buy a lot of stuff (too much, for sure) but little to none of what I want is carried by these big generic retailers, with the exception of the orange borg. Smaller local stores and specialized mail order is where it seems one has to go for interesting products at acceptable quality levels. Plus Amazon for when you don't want to have to go hunting from store-to-store for things.

[Stan Calow]

Online shopping is not dependable either. You have to look really closely at Amazon to consider brand names and product descriptions. There's a whole Facebook thing of people showing "what they ordered" versus "what they got". I've been screwed on that more than once.

I used to buy almost all my office and leisure clothes by mail, then online, from Lands End. Reliably good quality and fit. After they got bought out by Sears, their quality and selection went downhill and now I rarely look there, and buy with suspicion. I'm back to shopping Dillards and Macy's (on life support) where I can see things first.

[Mel Fulks]

Bed Bath …and Beyond. It was the first store using the Star Trek model and they boldly built too many stations taking up too much
space. Amazon will be OK , they send the stuff the customers order.

[Andrew More]

Amazon will be OK , they send the stuff the customers order.

I'm not so sure either of these statements are true any more. The problem from what I've seen is you need to check really close to make sure it's actually Amazon you're ordering from, and if not they don't necessarily send what's been ordered. As such I think Amazon has been shooting themselves in the foot as well. Not that they're alone in this, I've seen similar issues with NewEgg, and I've stopped shopping there as a result. I should need to triple check who I'm ordering from when I want to buy a product.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yesterday was last day to use 20% off coupons. Guess what came in the mail today? Last time we were in BB&B, shelves were basically bare, with overheads closed with shades to hide the fact of no inventory. If you don't have it, you can't sell it! Do need to check and see if they still have a rolling pin I use, as they were half the price of another vendor I use. Most of my cooking stuff came from thrift stores, or dumpsters, paying about ten cents or less on the dollar, as compared to new. Have several nice heavy duty SS pots that were rescued from dumpsters. Most came without a lid, but a couple trips to thrift stores solve that.

[Jim Koepke]

Most came without a lid, but a couple trips to thrift stores solve that.

One of my favorite junque stores often has Pyrex lids for Corning Ware and other brands of bowls. I have purchased a lot of the smaller sizes to use on our different bowls in the microwave.

We have purchased a lot of orphaned lids over the years.

jtk