Bed Bath & Beyond Closing Another 87 Stores, Including All Harmon Locations
Struggling retailer Bed Bath & Beyond has announced another round of closures, shuttering 87 more stores and all 50 of its remaining Harmon locations. The list, posted on the company’s website, also includes five BuyBuy Baby stores.
It has been a rough start to the year for the home goods retailer. Last week, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said that “at the time” they lacked the “sufficient resources” to settle debts with chief creditor JP Morgan Chase & Co. Last week, the company said JP Morgan had issued them with a loan default notice demanding all debt to be resettled immediately. “[T]his will lead the company to consider all strategic alternatives, including restructuring its debt under the US Bankruptcy Code,” Bed Bath & Beyond’s filing read.
Following the news, on Friday, S&P Global downgraded Bed Bath & Beyond's credit rating to “D” from “CC”, with the expectation that the retailer will look into restructuring their debt.
In January, the company outlined disappointing third-quarter sales figures along with another series of planned closures and lay-offs. According to this call, both net and comparable digital sales fell 33% compared to the prior year, and, in a regulatory filing the retailer shared their “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue.” At the time, Bed Bath & Beyond also shuttered around 18 stores in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, as well as 16 stores in California.
In August 2022, the store revealed plans to close 150 lower-performing stores and cut about 20% of jobs across the corporate and supply chain workforce. At the time, the brand also further reduced its capital spending. The home goods retailer has also seen significant leadership changes over the past few months, with the departure of its CEO Mark Tritton after just three years, and the subsequent permanent appointment of interim CEO, Sue Gove.
The New Jersey-based company has been casting around for a potential buyer for some time now, but these efforts have reportedly stalled in recent weeks, making a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing seem all the more likely in the near future.
