Bed Bath and Beyond today announced that they’ve filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the store closing sales for all locations is set to begin on Wednesday April 26th, 2023.
This also includes the buybuy Baby stores. In South Jersey there are stores currently open in Deptford and Cherry Hill, which are part of the closing announcement.
Earlier in the year the company had closed all of the Harman Face Value stores, as well as numerous Bed Bath and Beyond stores including Mount Laurel.
The customer FAQ at the website for Kroll Restructuring Administration states they expect the closing sales to continue for about a month, until the middle or third week of May.
They provide all of the details regarding gift cards online purchases and returns, which I’ll share a little bit later in the article.
All told there are 360 Bed Bath and Beyond stores and 120 buybuy Baby stores remaining, all which will be closing and start their sales on Wednesday.
The company has tried a variety of things to keep the company afloat including selling off Christmas Tree Shops to new owners, closing lower performing stores, closing Harmon Face Values, restructuring debt and acquiring additional funds. Despite those efforts they could see no path forward to keep the business operating.
To be clear, the Christmas Tree Shops is NOT affected by these closures as they were sold off to new ownership in November 2020. The Deptford, Cherry Hill and Mays Landing Christmas Tree Shops locations are unaffected by the Bed Bath and Beyond actions.
They will also begin selling assets including the brand names.
The modern shopping center in Deptford where Bed Bath and Beyond and buybuy Baby are located was developed in 2014 to support all four of the brands the company then owned.
After the closing of the two brands, only Christmas Tree Shops will remain open in the building.
I do not believe Bed Bath and Beyond currently owns the building. It is a new construction in a prime location, so let’s hope it attracts new tenants very quickly.
The Cherry Hill location is in the prime “Wegmans” shopping center on Route 70 and I would also expect it to get fast attention from other retailers
More Retail Rough Roads Ahead?
An article at the New York Times states that several retailers who have been on shaky financial ground before the pandemic, have actually benefited from the pandemic years as consumers were more eager to spend during that time frame, surrounded by a booming stock market and economy.
With things leveling off economically (and many believe the economy is on a decline) , other retailers could become at risk for drastic actions.
For Bed Bath and Beyond, about 20 years ago they had about 300 stores all under the Bed Bath and Beyond brand.
Over the next 10 years they entered an aggressive growth and acquisition phase growing to 1,100 stores, including Harmon, Christmas Tree Shops, buybuy Baby, and Cost Plus World Market.
That high point for the company was just 10 years ago and in now in a few short weeks nothing will remain of Bed Bath and Beyond, buybuy Baby, and the already closed Harmon Face Values.
Customer Sales information
Click here to read the full FAQ (pdf)
Key summary aspects are, the store closing sales will begin on Wednesday April 26th 2023. You can still continue to shop online.
For all orders that have been placed already, where the merchandise is in stock it will still be shipped.
For returns they expect that items purchased prior to April 26th will be returnable with the company’s usual return policies until May 24th.
All purchases made during the store closing sales (starting on April 26th) will be final, and cannot be returned.
For those with welcome rewards you can use them until May 15th, but you will not be earning new rewards though.
Merchandise credits can be used until May 15, 2023.
Gift cards are still valid through May 8, 2023.
They anticipate that coupons will no longer be accepted starting April 26th.
Regarding those with a registry at the two stores, they expect to have a partner with an alternative platform to take over your data so that you can complete your registry. More details to come.
For the latest details on the store closing details, discounts, returns etc… it appears the Kroll Administration website will have the latest information.
Links And Locations
Bed Bath Beyond – Deptford, Cherry Hill and Mays Landing
Bed Bath and Beyond Website
Bankruptcy Site (Customer FAQ) Kroll Website