Looks like they may not be throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater after all.
Reports surfaced late last week of interest from two different parties in purchasing what’s left of BuyBuy Baby, the division of doomed Bed Bath & Beyond that many people thought would be the only survivor of this retail Titanic.
CNBC reported on Friday that Babylist, which is a direct-to-consumer baby registry website, was interested in purchasing the trademark and online domain of BuyBuy Baby. It also said there was a second, unknown, bidder that wanted to buy the entire Baby business and keep as many as 75% of its store open. It based this reporting on what it said was “correspondence” it had obtained.
Babylist confirmed the news to CNBC but the unnamed second party has not been confirmed. According to the email message CNBC obtained, it is an “independent operator with several successful, complimentary retail chains in their portfolio.”
Should either party’s interest be confirmed, it would mark the first real proof that any part of Bed Bath & Beyond’s once-ginormous retail empire would come out of this bankruptcy alive. To date, there have been no confirmed – or unconfirmed for that matter – reports of any interest in the mothership itself.
The bankruptcy court deadline for bids for any or all parts of Bed Bath & Beyond were originally due several days ago and were set to be decided tomorrow but CNBC also reported those deadlines have been pushed back at least twice, perhaps in an indication of this interest.
In the meantime, the liquidation sales at both nameplates continue with about 360 Bed Bath and 120 Baby stores still in operation. An email received by a Bed Bath customer last week said “all stores closing” and indicated fixtures were for sale, usually a telltale sign that there are no intentions of keeping those stores open. Baby’s website says “all stores closing” as well and reports “select fixtures for sale.”
Observers have long said that the Baby unit probably had the best shot of coming out of this with its physical stores still open as it is believed it was a better business than its parent brand. In past similar situations of once-well-known retail nameplates going out of business its intellectual properties – store name, URL address and private label brand – have often been snatched up and resurfaced as online-only so-called “ghost” retailers. That’s been the case with such former retailers as Linens’n Things, BBB’s one-time chief competitor.
As to who the mystery pursuer for the Baby division, the CNBC description would imply it’s a company that already has retail brands, perhaps somebody like Authentic Brands Group or Sycamore Partners, both of which have been rumored for months as interested parties. CNBC did not indicate whether it had gotten any comment from either on its report. Bed Baby & Beyond did not respond to its inquiry, it said.
CNBC said “Stalking horse bids are now due on June 8 at 5 p.m., and final bids are now due on June 14. An auction, if necessary, is scheduled for June 16.”
The drama continues.
WarrensReport 