Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

ClownLoach
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by ClownLoach »

ClownLoach wrote: July 18th, 2022, 7:40 am
storewanderer wrote: July 17th, 2022, 10:26 pm Went in again today. The store has so many out of stocks in the kitchen area it isn't even funny. Space literally empty of product. Also the household cleaning area, same story. Various areas with no products at all. Also tons of empty shelf pegs on the center aisle. They don't have a plastic shelf tag holder on those pegs either and I hit one of them while walking by mistake and received a nice bleeding gouge in my hand from it.

The front area with "Back to College" signs is largely empty of merchandise and most shelving has been removed.

The Harmon department is a complete mess, low stock on what they do have but thousands of out of stocks.

The bedding department specifically sheets is full of out of stocks.

The store had 5 employees in the store this afternoon and employees outnumbered customers. Not one employee greeted me or offered assistance.

Walked out while one of the customers was paying and the cashier was insisting they "enter their phone number" before they run their credit card. The customer resisted and the employee told them you have to do that before you can pay. The customer again resisted and the cashier relented, bypassed the prompt, and let the customer pay.

With this way this store looked the current quarter is going to be even worse than the last quarter. This used to be a busy high volume store.
I actually wonder how quickly they wind up in Chapter 11. They have to be bleeding money just keeping the lights on and the rent paid (if it's even being paid?) It appears that they had to borrow $200M last quarter (where they lost over $250M) to keep the ship afloat. I doubt they will be able to continue borrowing promising a turnaround when they had to fire the CEO mid-turnaround... I wonder how bad their credit rating is now?
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that they are struggling to "stay solvent.". Looks like my guess here was accurate about their dire financial situation.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: July 28th, 2022, 1:52 am

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that they are struggling to "stay solvent.". Looks like my guess here was accurate about their dire financial situation.
Tough to run a retail store when you have lousy products nobody wants and you run off all your customers. Then you have limited cash to try to get back inventory the customers used to buy (assuming vendors even want to work with you anymore).

Maybe Martha Stewart can acquire the chain and right the ship.

Nothing could be worse than the current assortment and store. Target look a like crap with high prices, limited selection, poor quality. Really terrible. Wal Mart has better stuff in these categories, a wider mix, and better pricing.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by ClownLoach »

I noticed that their Huntington Beach store abruptly disappeared. I don't remember seeing any closing sale. This was a busy store for them despite odd location on 2nd floor. For most Orange County retailers this general area (I-405 and Beach Blvd/Hwy 39/Edinger Ave) contains their top volume stores in the market. If BB&B couldn't stay open here then they can't stay open anywhere. This wasn't the part of the center that is going to be converted to more apartments either - that is a old JCPenney that was redeveloped into Burlington and as we know they're downsizing most of their stores. BB&B was supposed to be part of the center after this change was made and their parking situation would be greatly improved as the former entrance to Burlington became a tunnel direct to the 5 story garage. I wonder if they sold the lease to Burlington so they can relocate there?
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: July 29th, 2022, 7:49 am I noticed that their Huntington Beach store abruptly disappeared. I don't remember seeing any closing sale. This was a busy store for them despite odd location on 2nd floor. For most Orange County retailers this general area (I-405 and Beach Blvd/Hwy 39/Edinger Ave) contains their top volume stores in the market. If BB&B couldn't stay open here then they can't stay open anywhere.
I can't find a WARN notice for this closure.

I did find a WARN notice for the Vons soda plant in Norwalk 69 employees. I wonder if it was sold or just outright closed. I guess this is why NorCal is now up to 4.99 for a 12pk of off brand soda. NorCal plant had to pick up Norwalk capacity, though odd they would keep a plant in overpriced NorCal rather than SoCal. I also see Kroger closed "Compton Creamery" 105 employees. Funny these chains are closing food plants, producing high quality private label goods and selling at low prices should be a competitive advantage for them.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by jamcool »

It’s cheaper to let a private bottler make soda for them under contract (Like Kalil Bottling in Arizona) Also Kroger is probably supplying private label ice cream to SoCal from its Arizona plant.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by storewanderer »

Tried to go to a low volume BBB this afternoon. Store hours are now 10-6 every day. Pretty bad... like they can't afford payroll to operate later. Didn't see any hiring signs posted.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by Alpha8472 »

The hours vary by city. The one in Oakland, California is open 10 to 7. San Francisco is open until 10 to 8 most nights, 10 to 9 on Saturday, and 11 to 7 on Sundays. Most stores do not open past 8 except for the busy one in San Francisco.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by mbz321 »

I just noticed a paper flyer in with my other weekly supermarket circulars for Wayfair, and upon first glance, I thought it was a BBB flyer! The style and items in the ad reminded me of BBB from days of yore. Although none currently operate, it seems like they have plans for a few brick and mortar locations. Taking over Bed Bath seems like a natural fit...maybe they are just holding out for a 'fire sale' price.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by mjhale »

I heard an ad on TV recently that Bed Bath and Beyond now has a rewards program. Costs $29/year. You get the usual points that can be spent on other stuff plus free shipping, skip the line with mobile payments, free same day shipping four times a year and 15 percent off purchases.

I guess this brings up the old adage of it sounds great if there is something you want to buy. The last few times I've been in Bed Bath and Beyond they have zero I was interested in getting. I'm clearly not the person who will be spending $29 on this. With that said, I think the Wayfair angle is interesting. They have a lot of commonalities in the types of merchandise that they sell. Bed Bath and Beyond could end up being a showroom for large items from Wayfair you'd have shipped to your home plus selling all of the gadget and smaller stuff retail in the stores. I don't find Wayfair to be a screaming deal but the breadth of merchandise they have available makes up for that. I recently needed a new paper towel holder. It ended up that both Wayfair and Amazon had a holder that I liked. I only purchased from Amazon because I had a credit with them. Had I not had a credit I would have gone with Wayfair. It would have been a bonus if Wayfair had a retail space I could have gotten something simple like a paper towel holder without having to have it shipped.
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Re: Bed Bath & Beyond: Dying?

Post by veteran+ »

I have had awful quality issues with Wayfair in the past!

Wayfair and BBB in bed together? Makes sense to me................................. :lol:
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