Bed Bath & Beyond takes shot at California amid relaunch

Two years after falling into bankruptcy and closing all of its stores across the United States, Bed Bath & Beyond is poised for a retail comeback — just not in California.

Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman and principal executive officer of Bed Bath & Beyond parent company Beyond Incorporated, handed down the decree, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. California won’t get any Bed Bath & Beyond storefronts as the company prepares to relaunch some brick-and-mortar operations.

“This decision isn’t about politics; it’s about reality,” Lemonis said. “California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America. It’s a system that makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open, and harder to deliver value to customers.”

Companies that operate in the Golden State face “higher taxes, higher fees, higher wages that many businesses simply cannot sustain, and endless regulations that strangle growth,” he said.

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and closed all 360 of its stores from coast to coast. In early 2022, a year before the troubled retailer filed for bankruptcy, there were 87 Bed Bath & Beyond locations in California, per Statista.

The company is in the midst of a rebirth as Bed Bath & Beyond Home. The first location opened in Nashville earlier this month. About 75 former Kirkland’s Home locations across the country are expected to turn into Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores by next year.

Customers in California will still have access to Bed Bath & Beyond’s inventory via the company’s website. In response to Lemonis’ statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office brushed off the executive’s rebuff of the state.

“After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed Bath & Beyond no longer existed,” the governor’s office wrote on social media. “We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a second store.”— Chris Malone Méndez