Bed Bath & Beyond reported its first quarter numbers on Wednesday and they were dismal…as anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to the retail business would suspect. Sales dropped in half as most of Bed Bath’s stores were closed for much of the period. Wall Street so far is beating up the stock, it dropped 20% the next day, and just about every press story on its report led with the fact the company would be closing 200 stores over the next two years.
Stupid. I think both actions — Wall Street’s and the media — completely missed the point. Of course sales were way off, what did anyone expect? And the company’s critics have been after it for years to close a large number of locations, saying it was vastly overstored. Now that they are doing it, they are getting punished. What was missed were the encouraging signs on e-commerce, omnichannel initiatives and the fact that BBB remains in the sweet spot of retailing right now: the home furnishings business.
Listen, I’m the first to criticize Bed Bath for its many prior mistakes. But I see some positives in yesterday’s news and urge over-reactors to stop…well, overreacting. Here’s my take on Forbes.com which I believe is more balanced — and less Stupid. https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2020/07/08/bed-bath–beyond-posts-pandemic-1q-numbers-but-sees-reopens-online-bopis-and-curbside-surges/#4071b57e664a
WarrensReport 