The Buy Buy Baby, Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. Has a Hard Times Since the First Bankrupt Cyclosure? A Tale of Two Stores
The company, which also owns the BuyBuy Baby chain, has struggled to regain its financial footing after a series of turnaround attempts that proved to be mistimed or ineffective.
Since the first warning of a bankrupt company in January, the company has exhausted many attempts to find financing, including store openings and job cuts from banks and investors.
The company’s losses grew by 42% and sales dropped by a third in the quarter ending just after Black Friday. Sales went down even further in the following quarter. Grossfeld, who used to work at Bed Bath & Beyond, couldn’t find his way to the store.
Bed Bath & Beyond dominated the category for a while and had many early rivals. The chain had more than 1,500 stores at some point in the past.
The company’s shares gained in value on the news of Ryan Cohen’s investment. He made a tidy profit after shaking up corporate leadership.
In January, the chain defaulted on some of its loans shortly after warning it may go bankrupt. The company announced dozens more store closures and sought breaks on rent. It got financial assistance from banks and investors for months. Some landlords were reported to be readying new tenants. Its stock price fell to 50 cents after drifting below $1.
Shoppers flocked to Bed Bath & Beyond for a treasure-hunt-like stroll through aisles stacked floor to ceiling with trash cans, kitchen gadgets, shower caddies and bedding. It’s a cultural staple that is frequently sold on eBay.
What is it like to be in bed bath & Beyond? A question asked by a woman in a crowded, upscale home decor store
“Is it me, or is it cold in here?” was the question asked by someone pushing an empty cart past a wall of identical comforters. She scanned the bare cul-de-sac of home decor that displayed a few mirrors and a scuffed wall shelf. A fluorescent light buzzed and flickered overhead.
The chain also had perfected a secret power play: Unlike most retailers, Bed Bath let local managers choose what to sell in their stores, catering to the particular tastes of shoppers in their area.
“Floor to ceiling, stack ’em high and watch ’em fly — that was kind of our motto,” said Beth Grossfeld, who spent 13 years in the marketing division of Bed Bath & Beyond. “And the customers loved it. It was like a treasure hunt. You have what you want and 10 other things.
“I would go into one meeting and it would be ‘we need to be … the destination for home, more upscale, home decor, more furniture,’ ” Amy Laskin, a former Bed Bath & Beyond content marketing executive, told NPR.
“The next conversation would be ‘we need to be more competitive with Amazon. She said that we should be the destination with everything. “We were carrying diamond jewelry, similar to the one you are about to read.”
One of its founding fathers told The Wall Street Journal that they missed the boat on the internet. It ran ads that promoted “offline shopping” in the last months of this year as its heart remained in stores with their stacks of cookware, walls of trash cans and piles of pillows.
Bed Bath & Beyond strained to turn around the failed turnaround. The brand suppliers were worried about getting their money because the executive Sue Gove took the helm with a back-to-basics plan. Bed Bath’s lenders were also.
The timing did not go well, and it was close to the supply-chain scramble. KitchenAid mixers went missing from the Bed Bath & Beyond shelves when shoppers wanted all of what it normally sells.
After Bed Bath & Beyond spent $1 billion to buy back its stock, Tritton and other leaders were out. Sometimes companies do it because they believe their shares are worth more.
This conviction was also shared by followers of activist investor Ryan Cohen of Chewy and GameStop fame. Cohen last year bought a stake in the company, advocating the sale of BuyBuy Baby. His fans on Reddit and YouTube pumped up the stock. Just as suddenly, Cohen sold his entire stake.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1152070914/bed-bath-the-great-beyond-how-the-home-goods-giant-went-bankrupt
A Rejoinder with Ms. Streepham’s About a Photonic Room for the Bath and Beyond Brand New York Branch
She said that she couldn’t find anything that she needed to style one bedroom for the photo shoot because she was so familiar with the stores. It was a sad day.
The Bed Bath & Beyond filing raised a question: could the company sell itself in Chapter 11? He then asked what the business is worth, given all of its recent failures.