Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000.

History

Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein worked in management positions at

discount store A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

chain Arlan's. As the company suffered financial difficulties, and the two believed that the market would shift toward

specialty store A specialty store is a shop/store that carries a deep assortment of brands, styles, or models within a relatively narrow category of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Stores such as ...

s, they decided to leave and form their own company. In 1971, they opened a store in Springfield, New Jersey, called Bed 'n Bath. By 1985, Eisenberg and Feinstein were operating 17 stores in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Also in 1985, the first superstore was opened, as an attempt to remain competitive with

Linens 'n Things Linens 'n Things was a Clifton, New Jersey-based big-box retailer specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. The chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as ...

Pacific Linen Pacific Linen, founded 1980 in Seattle, Washington, is a defunct retailer of high quality designer linens, bath towels, and home accents that operated in the United States and Canada. In April 1996, Pacific Linen filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy pr ...

, and Luxury Linens. In order to properly represent the size increase in its retail stores, the company changed its name to Bed Bath & Beyond in 1987. The company adopted integrated computer-based inventory management systems in 1993 to better compete with Linens ‘n Things, which had utilized computer inventory management since the late 1980s. By 1991, Bed Bath & Beyond had opened seven new superstores in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, California,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. By 2011, Bed Bath & Beyond had 1,142 stores. The company went public in June 1992, making its

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the NASDAQ stock exchange, where its stock continues to trade under ticker symbol BBBY. Bed Bath & Beyond first reached $1 billion in annual sales in 1999. In March 2019, three activist investment firms—Legion Partners, Marcellum Advisors, and Ancora Advisors—announced their intent to remove current CEO Steven Temares and restructure Bed Bath & Beyond’s current board of directors. The activist investors highlighted several instances of perceived nepotism, including the acquisition of

Buy Buy Baby Buy Buy Baby, Inc. (stylized: buybuy BABY) is an American chain of stores that sell clothing, strollers and other items for use with infants and young children. It operates 133 stores across the United States and Canada. The chain was founded in ...

, which was founded by two of Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein’s children, and the acquisition of Chef Central, which was created by co-founder Warren Eisenberg’s son, as examples of poor business practices at Bed Bath & Beyond. This pressure led five independent directors to step down on April 22, 2019, and also resulted in the company restructuring its board to include only 10 directors instead of the previous 12 members. On April 13, 2019, there was a report that the chain would close 40 stores but open 15 new locations. On May 13, 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that CEO Steven Temares would step down “effectively immediately” and would resign his seat on the board of directors. Mary Winston, who had been appointed to the company's board as a result of the activist investment firms’ efforts, replaced Temares as interim CEO. On November 4, 2019, Mark Tritton, who was previously Target's chief merchandising officer, started as Bed Bath & Beyond's CEO. The company, which had for decades used coupon mailers and other promotional discounting tactics to attract consumers, announced in April 2019 that it would reduce its use of promotional coupons and tighten restrictions on their use. To combat declining profitability, Bed Bath & Beyond also announced it was creating private-label brands and opening “lab stores” that focused on home decor, food and drink, and health and beauty products. As of 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond operated approximately 1,530 stores in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada. In addition to more than 1,020 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the company also operated approximately 280 Cost Plus World Markets, 100 Buybuy Baby stores, roughly 80 Christmas Tree Shops (and related brands), and more than 50 Harmon stores. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the company announced it would close more than 200 stores, about 21%, over two years. In January 2021, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that they would stop selling MyPillow, citing poor sales. The announcement came in the wake of the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then- U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in p ...

and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and amidst similar announcements by

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

and

Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global s ...

. In March 2022, former CEO of Chewy,

Ryan Cohen Ryan Cohen (born 1985 or 1986) is a Canadian entrepreneur and activist investor. He founded e-commerce company Chewy in 2011, and was the company's CEO until 2018. Cohen is currently the chairman of GameStop. Early life Cohen was born to a Je ...

, sent an open letter, as part of a

Schedule 13D Schedule 13D is an SEC filing that must be submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission within 10 days by anyone who acquires beneficial ownership of more than 5% of any class of publicly traded securities in a public company. A filer mu ...

filing, to the Board of Directors calling for

to be sold or spun off at a favorable valuation. Subsequently, Bed Bath & Beyond reached a deal to give Ryan Cohen three board seats in exchange for his cooperation and the creation of a committee to execute his proposed plan. On June 29, 2022, significant changes to executive leadership were announced by Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.. Mark Tritton left his role as president and chief executive officer and as a member of the Board, and was replaced by Sue Gove. In July 2022, FCM BBBY Holdings, LLC, managed by Jake Freeman, also sent an open letter, as part of a

Schedule 13G Schedule 13G is an alternative SEC filing for the Schedule 13D which can be filed in lieu of Schedule 13D by anyone who acquires more than 5% ownership of a Section 13 security and qualifies for one of the exemptions available to the Schedule 13D f ...

filing, asking the board of directors to consider their proposed plan to reduce Bed Bath & Beyond's debt and improve liquidity through a convertible bond issuance. In August 2022, the company announced the closure of 150 under performing stores and the reduction of its corporate and supply chain staff by about 20%. On September 2, 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond chief financial officer Gustavo Arnal fell to his death from the 18th floor of his balcony at 56 Leonard Street – commonly known as the "Jenga Building". Arnal, who was one of the targets of a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

with regard to Bed Bath & Beyond's stock becoming a

pump and dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operat ...

scheme, is alleged by authorities to have committed suicide. On October 26, 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. announced Sue Gove was voted unanimously by the board of directors and would remain as the CEO.

Headquarters

The company's headquarters in Union, New Jersey are located along the 7.3-mile main line of the abandoned

Rahway Valley Railroad The Rahway Valley Railroad (RVRR) was a short-line railroad in the Northeastern United States which connected the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Roselle Park and the Central Railroad of New Jersey in Cranford with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western ...

Competition

Since the liquidation of

in 2008, Bed Bath and Beyond has had several major retail competitors, including

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

, and

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

. Companies such as

Crate & Barrel Euromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel (stylized as Crate&Barrel), is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the Uni ...

, IKEA, and the numerous

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in Sonoma, Californ ...

companies like

Pottery Barn Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is head ...

and West Elm are competitors as well.

Subsidiaries

Acquisitions

* Harmon Stores – acquired in March 2002, operates Face Values *

– acquired in March 2007 for $67 million * Cost Plus, Inc. – acquired in May 2012 for $495 million, operates

Cost Plus World Market World Market, formerly Cost Plus World Market until 2021, is an American chain of specialty/import retail stores, selling home furniture, decor, curtains, rugs, gifts, apparel, coffee, wine, craft beer, and international food products. The bran ...

and World Market; sold in February 2021 to Front Burner LP * Linen Holdings – acquired in June 2012 for $105 million * Of a Kind – acquired in August 2015 for an undisclosed amount *

One Kings Lane One Kings Lane is a luxury home decor business that operates a furniture and home accessories sales website. It was founded by Ali Pincus and Susan Feldman in March 2009. The company was valued at $912 million in 2014. The company has 10 million mem ...

– acquired in June 2016 for an undisclosed amount

Other subsidiaries

* Bed Bath & Beyond Canada L.P. - 53 stores across Canada in nine provinces (none in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Northwest Territories, Nunavut or

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

) * Bed Bath & Beyond Mexico – a joint venture with Home & More to operate four stores in Mexico under the name "Bed Bath & Beyond" * Bed Bath & Beyond Invitations – an online wedding invitation venture

New Zealand chain

There is a New Zealand chain with the name "Bed Bath & Beyond", which has no corporate connection with the American company. This chain was founded in 1995 as ''Linen for Less'' and is New Zealand's largest Manchester specialist.

References

Further media

Videos * Products *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bed Bath and Beyond Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Companies listed on the Nasdaq Companies based in Union County, New Jersey Retail companies based in New Jersey Home decor retailers American companies established in 1971 Retail companies established in 1971 Retail companies of the United States Retail companies of Canada 1971 establishments in New Jersey 1992 initial public offerings Meme stock