And then there were none.
This past weekend marked the final days of the physical stores of Bed Bath & Beyond. The brand itself will live on in ecommerce but the last of what were once more than 1,000 stores as recently as just five years ago closed their doors over the weekend in what someone in the business could only describe as a “dystopian” moment in retail history.
At the end, there were more fixtures than merchandise for sale in many stores. One in suburban Atlanta had literally two dozen items on a shelf at the front of the store: a few dishes, some filters for some long-discontinued appliance and assorted odds and ends that better belonged in a kitchen junk draw that was the largest home furnishings chain in the country. At 90% off, the purchasing decisions were mostly moot for the shoppers observed that afternoon.
Everything else for sale were fixtures: racks, shelving, various pegboard units (minus the pegs) and 16-foot high display cases that once housed towels, sheets, dishes, blenders and all the other accoutrements it took to furnish a great American household. Hardly the sorts of things one could put in the average basement rec room…much less a family room or pantry.
Store workers milled around the virtually empty store, which didn’t even any going-out-of-business signs left hanging from the ceiling. The employees mostly gathered at the lone check-out counter, perhaps comparing unemployment paperwork or considering their next jobs at the stores along the strip center that seemed to be open for business. One worker said he had joined BBB about two years ago and never expected to be losing his job quite so quickly.
Oddly enough, the only non-sequitor in the store was a corn-hole game that one assumes was once for sale and was now the remaining source of amusement for those forlorn employees.
The remaining fixtures, exterior signage, the blue shopping carts: one assumes they were all destined for some landfill somewhere or perhaps the next Ollie’s or other deep dark discounter that would be eventually taking the space. Pickleball courts really have little use for 16-foot towering display cases.
Of course, we haven’t heard the last of Bed Bath & Beyond. Overstock now owns the name and is expected to relaunch the brand next month, following the changeover it’s already done in Canada. It has much work to do to sync up its merchandise offerings with what the BBB customer typically expects to find but for a measly $21.5 million it seems like the retail deal of the year.
There are also the law suits and legal actions. One group has filed against rogue investor Ryan Cohen claiming he misled his followers on his intentions when he briefly bought into the company in 2022. They claim his use of a moon emoji – moon being digital code for “to the moon” – in a text signified he expected the retailer to be flying high rather than crashing and burning.
There are also reports that claw-back efforts are being launched to get back last minute payments made to suppliers right before the bankruptcy filing. And with the shameful actions of the company’s executives and board at the end to try to prop up what was left of the company, don’t be surprised to find them at the wrong end of legal papers.
I have followed Bed Bath & Beyond almost since the moment of its creation and its glorious rise over the subsequent decades to become one of the best retailers in America. Frankly I expected it would long outlive me.
But now it’s gone — and as obvious as it sounds – to that great retail Beyond.
WarrensReport 