rwsandiego wrote: ↑January 15th, 2023, 6:01 pm
World Market was doing fine before BBB acquired them. In fact, they continued doing fine until BBB stopped letting them do their thing and tried to re-make them into Bed, Bath, and Market. The problem was aside from food, World Market stopped selling the items that made them World Market. Now that they are back to selling their traditional style of merchandise, they are doing well. It is hard to find the same type of merchandise with the same quality elsewhere.
Buy, Buy, Baby is different. It sells things that can easily be bought elsewhere. Not even sure why they exist.
PS: @storewanderer, want to clarify that I know when you said "previous ownership" you meant BBB not pre-BBB World Market
I actually think BBB purposely made the non-food categories at World Market so underwhelming, in hopes of driving people into BBB for those categories instead. But the thing was, the style of merchandise at World Market in the home category was/is quite different from the BBB offer. World Market also has an additional opening to sell its style of home products now that Pier 1 closed all of its stores.
When Babies R Us wasn't able to be easily separated from Toys R Us and saved in the US, I think it sent a message as to the viability of the Buy Buy Baby concept in terms of shopping the concept to new owners. But supposedly that Buy Buy Baby format is quite profitable... have to wonder if BBB just played that message in an effort to market Buy Buy Baby and get a high sale price for it. Probably too late now, joke is on them. At this point a fire sale to at least raise a little cash is the best they can hope for, for Buy Buy Baby.
rwsandiego wrote: ↑January 15th, 2023, 6:01 pm
World Market was doing fine before BBB acquired them. In fact, they continued doing fine until BBB stopped letting them do their thing and tried to re-make them into Bed, Bath, and Market. The problem was aside from food, World Market stopped selling the items that made them World Market. Now that they are back to selling their traditional style of merchandise, they are doing well. It is hard to find the same type of merchandise with the same quality elsewhere.
Buy, Buy, Baby is different. It sells things that can easily be bought elsewhere. Not even sure why they exist.
PS: @storewanderer, want to clarify that I know when you said "previous ownership" you meant BBB not pre-BBB World Market
I actually think BBB purposely made the non-food categories at World Market so underwhelming, in hopes of driving people into BBB for those categories instead. But the thing was, the style of merchandise at World Market in the home category was/is quite different from the BBB offer. World Market also has an additional opening to sell its style of home products now that Pier 1 closed all of its stores.
When Babies R Us wasn't able to be easily separated from Toys R Us and saved in the US, I think it sent a message as to the viability of the Buy Buy Baby concept in terms of shopping the concept to new owners. But supposedly that Buy Buy Baby format is quite profitable... have to wonder if BBB just played that message in an effort to market Buy Buy Baby and get a high sale price for it. Probably too late now, joke is on them. At this point a fire sale to at least raise a little cash is the best they can hope for, for Buy Buy Baby.
BB&B tried to open World Market foods departments inside several of their stores. The intent was to roll out nationwide. They had the full assortment of their foods and went through the hard work of acquiring liquor licenses. But when it didn't work they quickly cast the whole brand aside and stopped any investment. I think this also led to the loss of many vendor relationships as they ramped up orders with the promise of nationwide expansion, probably severed relations with vendors who couldn't handle the expansion, then killed the whole store-within-a-store program after less than two years.
BB&B tried to open World Market foods departments inside several of their stores. The intent was to roll out nationwide. They had the full assortment of their foods and went through the hard work of acquiring liquor licenses. But when it didn't work they quickly cast the whole brand aside and stopped any investment. I think this also led to the loss of many vendor relationships as they ramped up orders with the promise of nationwide expansion, probably severed relations with vendors who couldn't handle the expansion, then killed the whole store-within-a-store program after less than two years.
The only World Market food set I ever saw in a BBB was like 4 aisles and it was little short convenience store style aisles, it kind of looked like they had taken out a couple of checkstands to fit the shelves in, and it was not stocked well. Wherever that was, it was in a place where there was a BBB but no World Market nearby. It seems like most BBBs have a World Market nearby or maybe that is just a west coast thing.
To make matters worse on lower volume World Market Stores, BBB cut what felt like 50% of the SKUs throughout the stores and took out a lot of shelving (food was especially hit hard) about 4 years ago, maybe longer now. They also moved to a program of one store director for two stores. They also cut hours of operation in these stores. So in my area the World Market units in Sparks and Carson City were on this program (the busier Reno location that sits between the two geographically kept a larger mix/a store director of its own).
BB&B tried to open World Market foods departments inside several of their stores. The intent was to roll out nationwide. They had the full assortment of their foods and went through the hard work of acquiring liquor licenses. But when it didn't work they quickly cast the whole brand aside and stopped any investment. I think this also led to the loss of many vendor relationships as they ramped up orders with the promise of nationwide expansion, probably severed relations with vendors who couldn't handle the expansion, then killed the whole store-within-a-store program after less than two years.
The only World Market food set I ever saw in a BBB was like 4 aisles and it was little short convenience store style aisles, it kind of looked like they had taken out a couple of checkstands to fit the shelves in, and it was not stocked well. Wherever that was, it was in a place where there was a BBB but no World Market nearby. It seems like most BBBs have a World Market nearby or maybe that is just a west coast thing.
To make matters worse on lower volume World Market Stores, BBB cut what felt like 50% of the SKUs throughout the stores and took out a lot of shelving (food was especially hit hard) about 4 years ago, maybe longer now. They also moved to a program of one store director for two stores. They also cut hours of operation in these stores. So in my area the World Market units in Sparks and Carson City were on this program (the busier Reno location that sits between the two geographically kept a larger mix/a store director of its own).
The only two BBB's with a food department I shopped at were San Diego Mission Valley and Tatum and Shea in Phoenix. Mission Valley had a fairly large World Market department. Tatum and Shea's was smaller than MV's, but it was larger than what you described. It sounds to me like Reno was run differently than San Diego and Phoenix.
rwsandiego wrote: ↑January 15th, 2023, 9:54 pm
The only two BBB's with a food department I shopped at were San Diego Mission Valley and Tatum and Shea in Phoenix. Mission Valley had a fairly large World Market department. Tatum and Shea's was smaller than MV's, but it was larger than what you described. It sounds to me like Reno was run differently than San Diego and Phoenix.
I don't remember where the one I saw was. It wasn't in Reno. The Reno BBB has World Market directly next door (shares a wall), same for the other BBBs in this vicinity (Sparks, Carson City, Roseville, Folsom); none of these BBBs ever had a World Market department.
But there is one weird thing in Reno BBB: the Harmon area is not labeled as Harmon. It is just a generic drug/beauty department. All signs/logos/references to Harmon were removed from the aisle hangers, etc. when they did that reset. They still have/had various items on the shelf that said Harmon Face Values.
They also had the Harmon sections in Christmas Tree Shops (or at least our local one, but I think I went to one other - there aren't many that close). They sort of kept the section of HABA and similar items (or most of it) after they split, but not certain if they subcontract from BBB or are doing it themselves.
One thing that was interesting was that, when it was officially Harmon, they would take coupons (manufacturer) for those items, but not for anything else in the store (even though Christmas Tree has a fair section of food items and some household cleaners, which may have coupons from time to time).
The household cleaners were sourced from Harmon and manufacturer coupons should have been accepted for those, in the case of Bed Bath and Beyond basically if they sell the item, they accept the manufacturer coupon for it. Some of that candy, etc. in Christmas Tree was actually being sourced through World Market. Bed Bath and Beyond does accept manufacturer coupons and the system is set up to scan them. I am not sure if World Market accepts coupons, so I wonder if that is where this policy came from. Christmas Tree used the same point of sale as Bed Bath and Beyond, so it is able to scan coupons.
Did you ever try to use a 20% off coupon on the food in Christmas Tree and see if it worked?
The 20% off coupons worked at Christmas Tree, Harmon, and BBB but not at World Market.
Very possible that they were for the cleaning items as well - I don't remember actually using more than one or two, probably on something like toothpaste or OTC medicine.
Not sure I ever had one of the 20% off coupons (or at that time wouldn't have even thought about them working beyond BBB, though it was mentioned at the Baby store once when we went to get something based on someone who registered there, but we didn't have a coupon anyway).
They also had the Harmon sections in Christmas Tree Shops (or at least our local one, but I think I went to one other - there aren't many that close). They sort of kept the section of HABA and similar items (or most of it) after they split, but not certain if they subcontract from BBB or are doing it themselves.
One thing that was interesting was that, when it was officially Harmon, they would take coupons (manufacturer) for those items, but not for anything else in the store (even though Christmas Tree has a fair section of food items and some household cleaners, which may have coupons from time to time).
The household cleaners were sourced from Harmon and manufacturer coupons should have been accepted for those, in the case of Bed Bath and Beyond basically if they sell the item, they accept the manufacturer coupon for it. Some of that candy, etc. in Christmas Tree was actually being sourced through World Market. Bed Bath and Beyond does accept manufacturer coupons and the system is set up to scan them. I am not sure if World Market accepts coupons, so I wonder if that is where this policy came from. Christmas Tree used the same point of sale as Bed Bath and Beyond, so it is able to scan coupons.
Did you ever try to use a 20% off coupon on the food in Christmas Tree and see if it worked?
The 20% off coupons worked at Christmas Tree, Harmon, and BBB but not at World Market.
Very possible that they were for the cleaning items as well - I don't remember actually using more than one or two, probably on something like toothpaste or OTC medicine.
Not sure I ever had one of the 20% off coupons (or at that time wouldn't have even thought about them working beyond BBB, though it was mentioned at the Baby store once when we went to get something based on someone who registered there, but we didn't have a coupon anyway).
World Market was able to process BB&B returns on their registers until they were sold off. I know this to be a fact because twice I did a return of BB&B merchandise at two different World Market locations.
Last edited by ClownLoach on January 17th, 2023, 1:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
rwsandiego wrote: ↑January 15th, 2023, 9:54 pm
The only two BBB's with a food department I shopped at were San Diego Mission Valley and Tatum and Shea in Phoenix. Mission Valley had a fairly large World Market department. Tatum and Shea's was smaller than MV's, but it was larger than what you described. It sounds to me like Reno was run differently than San Diego and Phoenix.
I don't remember where the one I saw was. It wasn't in Reno. The Reno BBB has World Market directly next door (shares a wall), same for the other BBBs in this vicinity (Sparks, Carson City, Roseville, Folsom); none of these BBBs ever had a World Market department.
But there is one weird thing in Reno BBB: the Harmon area is not labeled as Harmon. It is just a generic drug/beauty department. All signs/logos/references to Harmon were removed from the aisle hangers, etc. when they did that reset. They still have/had various items on the shelf that said Harmon Face Values.
Yorba Linda cleared the entire center-left quadrant of the store for World Market foods. It was at least 10 aisles plus wall space. They had the full foods assortment and a full liquor department added. I think BB&B had several tests going with small-medium-large footprints for foods; Yorba Linda had the biggest. Didn't make a difference and was killed within 24 months. They also added Harmon to that store and it stayed.
Yorba Linda cleared the entire center-left quadrant of the store for World Market foods. It was at least 10 aisles plus wall space. They had the full foods assortment and a full liquor department added. I think BB&B had several tests going with small-medium-large footprints for foods; Yorba Linda had the biggest. Didn't make a difference and was killed within 24 months. They also added Harmon to that store and it stayed.
I wonder how many stores they actually had like that where it made sense to add all this food (due to no World Market nearby, and no other lease restrictions preventing them), and also that they had the space to fit it in. It appears only 3 stores in CA went so far as to add liquor:
Yorba Linda
West Olympic-Los Angeles
Camino Del Rio North-San Diego
Yorba Linda cleared the entire center-left quadrant of the store for World Market foods. It was at least 10 aisles plus wall space. They had the full foods assortment and a full liquor department added. I think BB&B had several tests going with small-medium-large footprints for foods; Yorba Linda had the biggest. Didn't make a difference and was killed within 24 months. They also added Harmon to that store and it stayed.
I wonder how many stores they actually had like that where it made sense to add all this food (due to no World Market nearby, and no other lease restrictions preventing them), and also that they had the space to fit it in. It appears only 3 stores in CA went so far as to add liquor:
Yorba Linda
West Olympic-Los Angeles
Camino Del Rio North-San Diego
I seem to remember reading a few years ago about actual combo stores that BB&B had that combined World Market/Buy Buy Baby/etc. under one roof. Was I imagining such a thing? Do they exist? Where would they be now?
