Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

They are doing what appears to be 80% off the entire "Wild Sage" (looks like a knockoff of some Target line) product line. Looks like a quasi liquidation sale.

What is most telling also is that they picked "Wild Sage" to do this 80% off liquidation sale on. Of all of their new private labels, this was the nicest stuff (meaning most expensive). By nice, this was about on the level with what Target sells, at best. These also had the highest prices of their private label products, the rest was cheap junk in a Target like package that was at a quality level below Target.

Also this line was launched a year ago and was to cater to young people. Why would you give everything away during the back to college shopping season, unless you are desperate? I could see running some teaser deals on certain items in the product line at 80% off to draw interest during the back to college period we are in, but 80% off the entire line?
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 18414.html

These stores are already very understocked. I guess if you have money tied up in inventory that isn't moving, it is best to just take it and sell it at a loss, to generate some cash flow, to keep the lights on. So that is exactly what they are doing.

I wonder what private label line they will do a mass liquidation on at below cost next.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

Went into a couple of these locations today. Some items are more than 80% off. Some items are cheaper on the website than in the store. Tried to order a few items online, but they canceled most of the order despite the website saying product was available at the location. One location barely had any promotion signs up and was a mess in general; had 3 employees and no more than 5 customers at once and not even steady for the checkout area (before on weekends this store would have had 15 employees and easily 30-40 customers shopping). The other location had some displays set up, and looked quite a bit better in general In the past that one has been less busy but today also had 3 employees but was closer to 10 customers at once and steady busy up front.

There really isn't much left and looking at their products I guess their Nestwell line is much more represented and comes at a higher price point than this line. So maybe this line is redundant but losing these items from their displays makes a lot of the areas of the store very drab and boring. These items they have 80% off "popped" - more bright colors and a bit more flashy.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: July 31st, 2022, 2:05 pm They are doing what appears to be 80% off the entire "Wild Sage" (looks like a knockoff of some Target line) product line. Looks like a quasi liquidation sale.

What is most telling also is that they picked "Wild Sage" to do this 80% off liquidation sale on. Of all of their new private labels, this was the nicest stuff (meaning most expensive). By nice, this was about on the level with what Target sells, at best. These also had the highest prices of their private label products, the rest was cheap junk in a Target like package that was at a quality level below Target.

Also this line was launched a year ago and was to cater to young people. Why would you give everything away during the back to college shopping season, unless you are desperate? I could see running some teaser deals on certain items in the product line at 80% off to draw interest during the back to college period we are in, but 80% off the entire line?
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 18414.html

These stores are already very understocked. I guess if you have money tied up in inventory that isn't moving, it is best to just take it and sell it at a loss, to generate some cash flow, to keep the lights on. So that is exactly what they are doing.

I wonder what private label line they will do a mass liquidation on at below cost next.
Clearly they are indeed trying to generate cash flow as well as traffic to their empty, dead stores. Based on the fact that they borrowed $200M (without comment) so that they didn't go under last quarter, and ended the quarter with only $50M in the bank they are pretty desperate for money.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: August 2nd, 2022, 10:15 am

Clearly they are indeed trying to generate cash flow as well as traffic to their empty, dead stores. Based on the fact that they borrowed $200M (without comment) so that they didn't go under last quarter, and ended the quarter with only $50M in the bank they are pretty desperate for money.
I've been in quite a few of these stores multiple times now in the past four days. Some of this clearance 80% off is actually quite good. I have been looking to buy some bath and window items and this is definitely the time. Some items are quite uneven, you have to really dig around and inspect the items carefully. They may have a terrible sheet set next to a very nice quilt, terrible drapes next to great drapes, etc. in this "Wild Sage" brand, at identical price points.

It is pretty scary how dead these stores are. I don't see anyone buying much of anything other than this 80% off merchandise, and some stores are even not having an easy time moving this stuff. Also whenever I am in the store I notice someone is returning something too, which is odd given how little traffic they have.

Also some of it is more than 80% off, plus there is a 20% off transaction coupon floating that can be stacked with this coupon.

The stores do not have this 80% off sale signed or promoted particularly well, either.

Staffing levels are at skeleton level, I see no more than 3-4 employees on duty at once in any store no matter what time it is.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by ClownLoach »

Tonight for some reason I thought of stopping by the Murrieta, CA BB&B since I was in need of an unusual size window curtain that I could not locate at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart or Target. This was my first time in this particular location although I have driven by many times, and I know that they had many trailers and equipment staged out back for the "full remodel" recently. This is in the worst shopping center in the Temecula valley, a complete mistake of a location that is invisible once you get off the freeway and I would have imagined it would have been a prime choice for closure, but maybe they're getting a great deal on rent. I personally wouldn't have spent one dime on remodeling it.

First off the main reason why you can't see around a BB&B (tall gondolas in the center) is because traditionally that center is the stockroom for the store. (Not unlike very old Circuit City "hub" stores from the 80's). The remodel reworks the store and creates stockrooms in the back corners that are somewhat visible to customers because they use gondola for walls and the lights are out in these corners (motion sensors for the stocking area - probably saves so little power that the cost of having an electrician wire this up negated any savings). But they still maintain a strip of tall gondola in center store that blocks the view across the building! A complete and total wasted effort - although many of the "arms" of this gondola are removed its footprint is a giant "letter I" that still prevents you from seeing around the store. You do have clear line of sight from front to back on the left and right sides now - but can't see from left to right across the center store.

I would rate visual in stocks at less that 60% in stock. All the traditional impulse merchandising, stacks of coffee makers, As Seen on TV, etc. that lined the racetrack of the store is gone, and the dominant feature is open, empty floor. They've kept the cheap looking vinyl fake wood in dated pine color and expanded the width of the racetrack significantly - they probably eliminated half the gondola/merchandising space in the center of the store.

Anything expensive seems to be gone. Fine cutlery? Nope, about half a dozen cheap knives in a glass case. Crystal? Nope, cheap Walmart grade plastic cups and glassware. Le Creuset and All Clad? Nope, cheap store brand tin pans. The wall of kitchen gadgets of every kind that you can't help but buy half a dozen items from? Nowhere to be found, the Target down the street has a massive wall as if they boxed it up and sent it to Target. It looks like they have replaced dollars with pennies all over the store - probably slashing their AUR by 75% - but then in an attempt to "clean up" the store they've removed all the impulse items that increased UPT and basket. This kind of merchandising is a guaranteed high double digit negative comp and that's before you factor in the removal of anything that actually is expensive. I can't imagine the type of fire sales they must have had to wipe out all the expensive product that has been replaced with nothing.

I did find in the back corner of the store the curtains. No rhyme or reason to pricing, branding, etc. They have a bunch of random store brands that all look about the same fabric, quality, etc. yet one is $20 and a different name is $66. Prices are way, way, way higher than Target, Walmart, Lowes or anyone else I can think of and quality of these house brands is suspect. Most curtains are displayed sideways on a closet rod style rack so you can't even see what color or size they are - despite giving more floor space to the category than Target they appear to have half the SKU count. I did find my curtain for $27, looked up my coupon online, and headed to the front. I would have continued browsing, but the store was very warm and stuffy so clearly the rumors they've turned off the HVAC are true as I shopped at two different Costcos,
Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Albertsons and made a return at Amazon Fresh today - the only store that was not pleasantly cool was BB&B. I went to the front end, unknowing of the disaster that lay ahead.

The front has been fully gutted and a queue line has been installed with all the impulse items that used to be around the racetrack. To give them credit this was the fullest section of the store. But all the checkstands are gone and replaced by self checkouts. There was one small counter that was not staffed and appeared to be for web pickups.

I scanned my one curtain, and my coupon. The curtain prompted that "Assistance is Required" for "Verification." Apparently if you buy a curtain this must be some kind of wild high shrink category for them so it literally will not allow you to complete the transaction unless someone logs in. Maybe people are switching the packaging between the $20 and $66 curtains since they all look the same anyway? My coupon gave an error message "POS Offer Not Valid" despite being very valid. I pressed the "Need Assistance?" button and the light turned red and the voice said that "Help is on the way" (I think it is a NCR self checkout - odd since BB&B always had dinosaur black and white screen IBM registers). And absolutely nobody ever showed up. I waited for five minutes, I timed it. No other customer approached the front of the store. No employee either. I actually called out loud "I need help on the register" but nobody responded. I finally just walked away and left empty handed.

I'm sure that they'll still have the oddball size curtain when the Going Out Of Business sale begins. Although I finally figured out where to get it - Wayfair.com who has it for $12 which is way cheaper than BB&B after the coupon. BB&B is doomed.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

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ClownLoach wrote: August 3rd, 2022, 12:45 am I would rate visual in stocks at less that 60% in stock. All the traditional impulse merchandising, stacks of coffee makers, As Seen on TV, etc. that lined the racetrack of the store is gone, and the dominant feature is open, empty floor. They've kept the cheap looking vinyl fake wood in dated pine color and expanded the width of the racetrack significantly - they probably eliminated half the gondola/merchandising space in the center of the store.

Anything expensive seems to be gone. Fine cutlery? Nope, about half a dozen cheap knives in a glass case. Crystal? Nope, cheap Walmart grade plastic cups and glassware. Le Creuset and All Clad? Nope, cheap store brand tin pans. The wall of kitchen gadgets of every kind that you can't help but buy half a dozen items from? Nowhere to be found, the Target down the street has a massive wall as if they boxed it up and sent it to Target. It looks like they have replaced dollars with pennies all over the store - probably slashing their AUR by 75% - but then in an attempt to "clean up" the store they've removed all the impulse items that increased UPT and basket. This kind of merchandising is a guaranteed high double digit negative comp and that's before you factor in the removal of anything that actually is expensive. I can't imagine the type of fire sales they must have had to wipe out all the expensive product that has been replaced with nothing.

I did find in the back corner of the store the curtains. No rhyme or reason to pricing, branding, etc. They have a bunch of random store brands that all look about the same fabric, quality, etc. yet one is $20 and a different name is $66. Prices are way, way, way higher than Target, Walmart, Lowes or anyone else I can think of and quality of these house brands is suspect. Most curtains are displayed sideways on a closet rod style rack so you can't even see what color or size they are - despite giving more floor space to the category than Target they appear to have half the SKU count. I did find my curtain for $27, looked up my coupon online, and headed to the front.

The front has been fully gutted and a queue line has been installed with all the impulse items that used to be around the racetrack. To give them credit this was the fullest section of the store. But all the checkstands are gone and replaced by self checkouts. There was one small counter that was not staffed and appeared to be for web pickups.

I scanned my one curtain, and my coupon. The curtain prompted that "Assistance is Required" for "Verification." Apparently if you buy a curtain this must be some kind of wild high shrink category for them so it literally will not allow you to complete the transaction unless someone logs in. Maybe people are switching the packaging between the $20 and $66 curtains since they all look the same anyway? My coupon gave an error message "POS Offer Not Valid" despite being very valid. I pressed the "Need Assistance?" button and the light turned red and the voice said that "Help is on the way" (I think it is a NCR self checkout - odd since BB&B always had dinosaur black and white screen IBM registers). And absolutely nobody ever showed up. I waited for five minutes, I timed it. No other customer approached the front of the store. No employee either. I actually called out loud "I need help on the register" but nobody responded. I finally just walked away and left empty handed.

BB&B is doomed.
Looking at photos online I see photos from February 2022 where this store looks just like the stores in my area (new blue department signs and new blue covers over top shelves) but I see in/around July 2022 some photos that indicate remodeling took place at some point between February and July. So this remodel looks to be very recent.

Such a low level of in-stocks indicates this is either a fairly busy store or it is fulfilling a lot of online orders (they ship them from stores). I have 3 stores in my area. 2 of them are historically low volume and those two are relatively well stocked, the busier store is a disaster and looks part way through a store closing sale (and has for the past couple years).

I notice their curtain departments look quite, for lack of better words, dusty and forgotten. I suppose that could describe other sections of the store as well.

The basically over the past two years took and liquidated out all of the high value inventory and replaced it with fewer SKUs and lower quantities of junk. Then they blew the proceeds from the inventory liquidation on useless remodeling projects, stock buybacks, and who knows what else. This is why I started this thread years ago saying the chain was dying. At the time that new CEO from Target was the darling of Wall Street and various media outlets and certain other retail threads I follow. It was so obvious this strategy wasn't going to work...

One of the 3 stores here has a ton of UGG products that appear to have just come in.

None of the stores here have self checkout, but staffing levels like I said are very low. There is always an employee up front at the customer service. They no longer use the checkstands at all, they may as well remove them all. Their IBM registers are actually from a user interface standpoint identical to the IBM Supermarket Software and have the same interface to the employee as the IBM touch screen used at Safeway/Albertsons and most Kroger divisions (same system Whole Foods yanked out a few years ago). I don't think self checkout is appropriate in this format at all. That they went with NCR instead of the Toshiba version that would properly interface with their registers is yet another example of a bad idea followed by bad implementation, which pretty much describes their entire strategy over the past couple years including their new private label brands. At least they have been consistently bad.

Could an Amazon Home format work? Is movement of this type of merchandise enough that having these stores placed around to fulfill from would make sense?
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: August 4th, 2022, 12:51 am
ClownLoach wrote: August 3rd, 2022, 12:45 am I would rate visual in stocks at less that 60% in stock. All the traditional impulse merchandising, stacks of coffee makers, As Seen on TV, etc. that lined the racetrack of the store is gone, and the dominant feature is open, empty floor. They've kept the cheap looking vinyl fake wood in dated pine color and expanded the width of the racetrack significantly - they probably eliminated half the gondola/merchandising space in the center of the store.

Anything expensive seems to be gone. Fine cutlery? Nope, about half a dozen cheap knives in a glass case. Crystal? Nope, cheap Walmart grade plastic cups and glassware. Le Creuset and All Clad? Nope, cheap store brand tin pans. The wall of kitchen gadgets of every kind that you can't help but buy half a dozen items from? Nowhere to be found, the Target down the street has a massive wall as if they boxed it up and sent it to Target. It looks like they have replaced dollars with pennies all over the store - probably slashing their AUR by 75% - but then in an attempt to "clean up" the store they've removed all the impulse items that increased UPT and basket. This kind of merchandising is a guaranteed high double digit negative comp and that's before you factor in the removal of anything that actually is expensive. I can't imagine the type of fire sales they must have had to wipe out all the expensive product that has been replaced with nothing.

I did find in the back corner of the store the curtains. No rhyme or reason to pricing, branding, etc. They have a bunch of random store brands that all look about the same fabric, quality, etc. yet one is $20 and a different name is $66. Prices are way, way, way higher than Target, Walmart, Lowes or anyone else I can think of and quality of these house brands is suspect. Most curtains are displayed sideways on a closet rod style rack so you can't even see what color or size they are - despite giving more floor space to the category than Target they appear to have half the SKU count. I did find my curtain for $27, looked up my coupon online, and headed to the front.

The front has been fully gutted and a queue line has been installed with all the impulse items that used to be around the racetrack. To give them credit this was the fullest section of the store. But all the checkstands are gone and replaced by self checkouts. There was one small counter that was not staffed and appeared to be for web pickups.

I scanned my one curtain, and my coupon. The curtain prompted that "Assistance is Required" for "Verification." Apparently if you buy a curtain this must be some kind of wild high shrink category for them so it literally will not allow you to complete the transaction unless someone logs in. Maybe people are switching the packaging between the $20 and $66 curtains since they all look the same anyway? My coupon gave an error message "POS Offer Not Valid" despite being very valid. I pressed the "Need Assistance?" button and the light turned red and the voice said that "Help is on the way" (I think it is a NCR self checkout - odd since BB&B always had dinosaur black and white screen IBM registers). And absolutely nobody ever showed up. I waited for five minutes, I timed it. No other customer approached the front of the store. No employee either. I actually called out loud "I need help on the register" but nobody responded. I finally just walked away and left empty handed.

BB&B is doomed.
Looking at photos online I see photos from February 2022 where this store looks just like the stores in my area (new blue department signs and new blue covers over top shelves) but I see in/around July 2022 some photos that indicate remodeling took place at some point between February and July. So this remodel looks to be very recent.

Such a low level of in-stocks indicates this is either a fairly busy store or it is fulfilling a lot of online orders (they ship them from stores). I have 3 stores in my area. 2 of them are historically low volume and those two are relatively well stocked, the busier store is a disaster and looks part way through a store closing sale (and has for the past couple years).

I notice their curtain departments look quite, for lack of better words, dusty and forgotten. I suppose that could describe other sections of the store as well.

The basically over the past two years took and liquidated out all of the high value inventory and replaced it with fewer SKUs and lower quantities of junk. Then they blew the proceeds from the inventory liquidation on useless remodeling projects, stock buybacks, and who knows what else. This is why I started this thread years ago saying the chain was dying. At the time that new CEO from Target was the darling of Wall Street and various media outlets and certain other retail threads I follow. It was so obvious this strategy wasn't going to work...

One of the 3 stores here has a ton of UGG products that appear to have just come in.

None of the stores here have self checkout, but staffing levels like I said are very low. There is always an employee up front at the customer service. They no longer use the checkstands at all, they may as well remove them all. Their IBM registers are actually from a user interface standpoint identical to the IBM Supermarket Software and have the same interface to the employee as the IBM touch screen used at Safeway/Albertsons and most Kroger divisions (same system Whole Foods yanked out a few years ago). I don't think self checkout is appropriate in this format at all. That they went with NCR instead of the Toshiba version that would properly interface with their registers is yet another example of a bad idea followed by bad implementation, which pretty much describes their entire strategy over the past couple years including their new private label brands. At least they have been consistently bad.

Could an Amazon Home format work? Is movement of this type of merchandise enough that having these stores placed around to fulfill from would make sense?
What I have realized is that they have a visual refresh project and an actual remodel project - but at first both seem identical. The visual refresh does not move any aisles or fixtures but institutes planograms, the drapes over all the high wall overstock, and the purple "target style signs.". Most stores received this visual refresh in 2021, even stores that subsequently closed in the desperate purge earlier this year.

The full remodel uses the exact same visuals and signs but replaces most fixtures, guts center store stockroom and moves it into two separate back corners, reduces the footprint of the entire center section of the store and doubles the width of the racetrack, removes nearly all dividing walls between the departments, and rebuilds the front end with the all self checkout. But the full remodel could have been so much more impactful if they just removed the center wall gondola entirely and opened the sales floor so you could see from side to side.

I think the "visual refresh" vs. "full remodel" strategy is similar to what we have seen Target do in recent years, where some stores get what amounts to a light repaint and new carpet while other stores get completely rebuilt inside but at first the end result is almost identical visually.

As far as this Murrieta store goes - BB&B had many stores to the north on I-15 in much better shopping centers, but closed them all (Lake Elsinore, Corona, and I believe that they had stores near Norco and Menifee too). I do not believe this store was kept for any reason other than low rent. The entire center is unnecessary and should probably be replaced with housing. The Murrieta-Temecula area along I-15 is quite busy from a retail perspective with the exception of this center that is only visible from the freeway but once you exit on California Oaks you'll never find it. It is called Village Walk and it is an ultra low volume shopping center that can't afford to lose any more stores. If I was the landlord I'd be slashing their rent and paying for remodel work just to prevent any more vacancies as at least a third of the center is vacant and the rest is now furniture stores or other specialties like Lakeshore and Guitar Center.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

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ClownLoach wrote: August 4th, 2022, 9:50 am

What I have realized is that they have a visual refresh project and an actual remodel project - but at first both seem identical. The visual refresh does not move any aisles or fixtures but institutes planograms, the drapes over all the high wall overstock, and the purple "target style signs.". Most stores received this visual refresh in 2021, even stores that subsequently closed in the desperate purge earlier this year.

The full remodel uses the exact same visuals and signs but replaces most fixtures, guts center store stockroom and moves it into two separate back corners, reduces the footprint of the entire center section of the store and doubles the width of the racetrack, removes nearly all dividing walls between the departments, and rebuilds the front end with the all self checkout. But the full remodel could have been so much more impactful if they just removed the center wall gondola entirely and opened the sales floor so you could see from side to side.

I think the "visual refresh" vs. "full remodel" strategy is similar to what we have seen Target do in recent years, where some stores get what amounts to a light repaint and new carpet while other stores get completely rebuilt inside but at first the end result is almost identical visually.

As far as this Murrieta store goes - BB&B had many stores to the north on I-15 in much better shopping centers, but closed them all (Lake Elsinore, Corona, and I believe that they had stores near Norco and Menifee too). I do not believe this store was kept for any reason other than low rent. The entire center is unnecessary and should probably be replaced with housing. The Murrieta-Temecula area along I-15 is quite busy from a retail perspective with the exception of this center that is only visible from the freeway but once you exit on California Oaks you'll never find it. It is called Village Walk and it is an ultra low volume shopping center that can't afford to lose any more stores. If I was the landlord I'd be slashing their rent and paying for remodel work just to prevent any more vacancies as at least a third of the center is vacant and the rest is now furniture stores or other specialties like Lakeshore and Guitar Center.
Of the 3 stores in my area two are probably solid but the one in Carson City (this is also the one that is only open 10-6 daily) strikes me as very much struggling. The entire shopping center other than In N Out, Michaels, and Best Buy seems to struggle (and I'd guess even those perform at below average levels for those chains) but everything there limps along and stays open and for the most part hasn't been updated since opening day (the Target down the street was finally updated from its original 1995 interior in 2020). I don't know how the Petco, World Market, or BBB even cover their payroll. Dollar Tree occupies a former Old Navy, one of the nicest/largest Dollar Trees around.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by Romr123 »

I made a $39 order of various clearance things yesterday--should be interesting what ships and what doesn't.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

Romr123 wrote: August 5th, 2022, 4:22 am I made a $39 order of various clearance things yesterday--should be interesting what ships and what doesn't.
One store here "found" a bunch of additional Wild Sage items and filled up some folding tables with the items up front yesterday/today. They still stick random stock on the top shelves that are covered with the blue sheets, and nobody knows what is where or what is there. I was trying to find a specific item and it was 12 feet up on one of those shelves.

I'd expect they'll fulfill at least 70% of your order. It will be interesting to see how many different stores fulfill your order.
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