Rooms + Spaces, the retail operation that took over many of the Canadian stores of the defunct Bed Bath & Beyond operation with big plans for dozens of locations, is now running drastic 40 and 50 percent-off sales both online and at its three remaining physical stores.
It doesn’t look good.
When he created Rooms + Spaces just over a year ago, owner Douglas Putman, self-described as a “Canadian retail magnate,” said he was opening 21 former BBB locations across Canada under the new name, “injecting life into the Canadian retail landscape.” Putman owns the Toys R Us brand in Canada as well as few other retail and entertainment businesses but clearly this was a move to fill the void in the home space.
That void didn’t stay filled for very long. His hire of former BBB executive Greg Dyer lasted only a few months before Dyer left and it wasn’t too long before some of those locations started to close. A few months ago, there were less than a half dozen stores still open and checking the company’s website now shows just three, in Ancaster and Hamilton, near Toronto and at the giant West Edmonton Mall in western Canada. It isn’t clear if some of the stores are part of Toys’ locations but the Ancaster location is listed as an outlet. The company’s website continues to accept orders.
But both in-store and online, the discounts are reflective of a retailer shutting down. “Everything” is 40% off online and the remaining stores are advertising “40-50% off everything.” “No exceptions.” All items seem to be marked “final sale,” another tell-tale sign of a retailer not intending to be around for the long-term.
Inquiries to the company have gone unanswered, as they have on previous requests for comment over the past several months and the company’s website has no announcements or press releases since the original purchase deal in May of 2023.
Should this mark the end of what was once Bed Bath & Beyond Canada, it will signal yet another sad chapter in the saga of a retailer that was once considered one of the best in the business but has fallen on hard times. Its brand still lives on through an online operation owned by the former Overstock.com while the World Market/Cost Plus division – shed years ago by BBB’s next-to-last management – is now owned by a private equity firm that has not responded to numerous requests for updates.
Bed Bath & Beyond once did over $12 billion a year in annual sales. That’s U.S. dollars but some of it came from Canada. Now, take away many of those zeroes, move the decimal point several places and you have what’s left. For now.
WarrensReport 