Bed Bath & Beyond, the beleaguered retailer that is seemingly on the verge of bankruptcy, will be closing at least one more Atlanta area store. The Bed Bath & Beyond at Buckhead Station shopping center (1 Buckhead Loop) started liquidation sales Saturday, offering all in-stock merchandise for 20 per cent off. The sale is slated to run for several weeks and end when all inventory is sold.
Bed Bath & Beyond has in recent years brought in new management and shed some of its sibling brands in an attempt to stabilize its core business and better compete in today's retail landscape. In 2019, the company hired Target merchandising veteran Mark Tritton in an effort to breathe new life into their business and streamline their operations. In late 2020, the company announced it was selling popular retailer Cost Plus World Market. The deal, which closed in January 2021, was valued at $110 million, a far cry from the $495 million that Bed Bath & Beyond had paid for the retailer in 2012. The Cost Plus transaction followed Bed Bath & Beyond's earlier sales of Christmas Tree Shops, One Kings Lane, Personalization Mall and Linen Holdings.
In June 2022, displeased with the progress of the turnaround, the company fired Tritton.
In addition to its namesake banner, the company also operates the Buy Buy Baby retail chain as well as Harmon Stores, another chain of about 50 units. A report Friday by The Wall Street Journal indicated that another 87 Bed Bath & Beyond stores are slated to close soon, while another report by Yahoo Finance said that the company will also close all of its Harmon stores, spanning 52 locations throughout six states, none in Georgia.
In early January, Bed Bath & Beyond announced it would close 62 stores across 30 states. The move affected three more stores in Georgia including those in Snellville, Suwanee, and Valdosta. The Snellville store, which recently closed for good, is expected, as ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported January 3, to reopen in 2024 as a new Nordstrom Rack. It's unclear what may become of the Suwanee and Valdosta stores.
A former Bed Bath & Beyond store in Dunwoody that closed this past February reopened this past August as a new Academy Sports + Outdoors.
In a regulatory filing Thursday, Bed Bath & Beyond warned that it received a notice of default from its lender, JPMorgan Chase. The company said in its SEC filing Thursday that “at this time, the Company does not have sufficient resources to repay the amounts under the Credit Facilities and this will lead the Company to consider all strategic alternatives, including restructuring its debt under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.”
For some, like Broad City's Abbi, Bed Bath & Beyond was a frequent, perhaps too frequent, destination.
According to the Bed Bath & Beyond website, the company currently operates nearly 700 stores nationwide, inclusive of the stores slated to and actively liquidating. In Georgia, the company has 20 stores, including three that are actively liquidating.
Are you surprised to see Bed Bath & Beyond close its Buckhead store? What would you like to see open in place of Bed Bath & Beyond in Buckhead? How many 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond do you currently have in your car or on your fridge?
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