Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy, plans to close last Iowa stores in Clive, WDM

Bed Bath & Beyond plans to close its remaining stores, including its sole Iowa store in Clive and a Buy Buy Baby location a short distance away in West Des Moines.

The struggling home goods chain had been trying to stave off bankruptcy, but on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, where it is based. The 360 remaining Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will remain open for now, but the chain plans to close its remaining stores by June 30 and announced it is holding a liquidation sale.

Bed Bath & Beyond listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion. The move comes after the company failed to secure funds to stay afloat.

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The chain had 950 operating stores in February 2022. But it closed hundreds over the next 12 months, then announced in February this year it would close 150 more, including stores in Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Davenport and Sioux City. That left the single Iowa Bed Bath & Beyond at 11101 University Ave. in Clive and the Buy Buy Baby store at 4100 University Ave. in West Des Moines.

Bed Bath & Beyond previously closed stores in West Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Dubuque and Waterloo.

In addition to selling off its remaining inventory, Bed Bath & Beyond also plans to make available for purchase its brand name, just as the Montgomery Ward chain did after closing its stores in 2000. It now operates as an online retailer under the ownership of Wisconsin's Colony Brands.

"Millions of customers have trusted us through the most important milestones in their lives, " Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Sue Grove said in a news release. "We deeply appreciate our associates, customers, partners, and the communities we serve, and we remain steadfastly determined to serve them throughout this process."

Bed Bath & Beyond employs 14,000 people, down from 32,000 in February 2022,

“It's the death of an icon. A lot of people have grown up with it, ” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “It’s an institution in retailing, but unfortunately being an institution doesn’t protect you from financial woes.”

Competition from Walmart, Target helps sink venerable chain

Founded in 1971, Bed Bath & Beyond had for years enjoyed its status as a big box retailer that offered a vast selection of sheets, towels and gadgets unmatched by department store rivals. It was among the first to introduce shoppers to many of today’s most popular household items, like air fryers and single-serve coffeemakers, and its 15% to 20% coupons were ubiquitous.

But for the last decade or so, Bed Bath & Beyond struggled with weak sales the likes of Target and Walmart began offering higher-quality sheets and bedding in their home departments. Meanwhile, online players like Wayfair have lured customers with affordable and trendy home furnishings and décor.'

In late 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous.

And the pandemic, which happened shortly after his arrival, forced the retailer to temporarily close its stores. It was never able to use the health crisis to pivot to a successful online strategy as others had, analysts said. And while many retailers were grappling with supply chain issues a year ago, Bed Bath was among the most vulnerable, unable to stock many of its 200 best-selling items including kitchen appliances and personal electronics during the 2021 holiday season.

The retailer ousted Tritton in June 2022 after two back-to-back quarters of disastrous sales. In recent months, the company, under the stewardship of replacement Sue Grove, went back to its original strategy of focusing on national brand, instead of pushing its own store labels. But the company has had a hard time getting suppliers commit to delivering merchandise because of the retailer’s financial woes.

This past holiday season, the stores again were missing many key items and lost many customers, a problem that continued to plague it through the winter and spring seasons.

Bed Bath & Beyond joins a growing list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy so far this year, including party supply chain Party City and David’s Bridal. The bankruptcy could offer a window of what's to come in the retail industry, given the changing landscape and the increasing challenges in the U.S. economy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bed Bath & Beyond bankruptcy mean end for 2 remaining Iowa stores