Bed Bath & Beyond weighs bankruptcy

Home goods retailer’s stock price has tumultuous week

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Despite a stock market surge, the home goods retailing chain Bed Bath & Beyond is mulling filing for bankruptcy amid sluggish sales and struggles to keep shelves stocked, The Guardian reported.

The company — like GameStop and AMC — is a “meme stock,” whose share price was driven upward by online traders who sometimes coordinate efforts and strategies through internet forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets.

Despite its stock price surging 45 percent this month to $3.66 a share (after bottoming out at around $1.30 a share earlier last week), Bed Bath & Beyond announced it has been in talks with Sycamore Partners to sell its assets, including its Buy Buy Baby stores, as part of a potential bankruptcy filing, the New York Times reported.

The Guardian reported a potential Chapter 11 filing could take place within weeks, as losses mount and sales continue to flag. Bed Bath and Beyond last Tuesday said it lost $400 million last quarter. In the fall, more than 40% of the chain’s products were out of stock, double the amount in the first half of 2022, the outlet reported,

“It’s a great store, but at other locations, there’s almost no products on the shelves,” Chintan Patel, who was shopping at the retailer’s Chelsea location, told The Guardian.

In August, the retailer announced it would close about 150 of its lower-performing stores, marking a footprint reduction of about 16 percent of its 955 stores. The company said at the time it would continue to evaluate its portfolios and leases.

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With fewer stores comes a significant reduction of staff. Bed Bath & Beyond said it would be laying off about 20 percent of its corporate and supply chain workforce in an effort to cut costs.

Still the company is pushing forward with rebuilding inventory and stocking its stores’ shelves with national brands, according to The Guardian.

Bed Bath and Beyond is just one of a number of bricks-and-mortar stores struggling to remain above water.

Party City Holdco, Inc., the parent company of Party City, appears to be headed for bankruptcy and possibly turning over ownership to creditors.

The party supplies retailer, which says it operates more than 800 stores in North America, has hired AlixPartners as a restructuring adviser.

— Ted Glanzer