Bed Bath and Beyond Files For Bankruptcy; Sixth Avenue Location To Close After All
Rescue plan faltered and now all 360 Bed Bath and Beyond and 120 buybuyBaby stores are to close and sell off all the merchandise by the end of June. But the company said in a court filing that it would halt store closings only if it found a new buyer.
The struggling retail giant Bed Bath and Beyond is officially filing for bankruptcy, and the Sixth Avenue location that was orginally expected to weather the story as some outlets shut will now be closed as well.
Initially, though the company was known to be struggling and closed hundreds of branches in recent months, they had stated they would keep the Sixth Avenue store open.
That location was reported to be the only Bed Bath and Beyond store in the city that would be kept open, despite the company’s intention to close all other NYC stores.
However, Bed Bath and Beyond filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, April 23rd. A statement on the home page of the company’s website states, “Thank you to all of our loyal customers. We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations.”
The website also states, “Store closing sales will start on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. We encourage you to come shop for your favorite products while merchandise selection is best.” Customers may also continue to shop online and using the Bed Bath & Beyond app of the time being.
The company has 14,000 employees, a sharp drop from the 22,000 it has as recently as Feb. 2022. The home goods retailer was started with a single story in New Jersey in 1971 and became a big box success story. But it was hurt by the pandemic and given its debt load and massive number of brick and mortar retail outlets, it was not able to pivot nimbly to the online shopping world.
The company had floated the idea of a reverse stock split in Feb., as it tried to put together a rescue package. But even then it was teetering on the brink and said said if shareholders did not approve the deal, then bankruptcy was imminent.