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Bed Bath & Beyond was an American big-box retail chain specializing in housewares, furniture, and specialty items. Headquartered in Union, New Jersey, the chain operated stores in the United States and Canada, and was once counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023 and liquidated all of its remaining stores, with the last closing on July 30, 2023. Following the retail chain's liquidation, its name was adopted by online retailer Overstock.com, which acquired the company's trademarks in a bankruptcy auction. The name is also still used by the chain's former Mexican division, which is now independent. Retail history Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein worked in management positions at discount store chain Arlan's. As the company suffered financial difficulties, and the two believed that the market would shift toward specialty stores, they decided to leave and form their own company. In 1971, they opened a store in Springfield, New Jersey, called Bed 'n Bath. By 1985, Eisenberg and Feinstein were operating 18 stores in the New York metropolitan area and California. Also in 1985, the first superstore was opened, as an attempt to remain competitive with Linens 'n Things, Pacific Linen, and Luxury Linens. In order to properly represent the size increase in its retail stores, the company changed its name to Bed Bath & Beyond in 1987. Growth and acquisitions By 1991, Bed Bath & Beyond had opened seven new superstores in New Jersey, California, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, and Florida. The following June, the company made its IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company adopted integrated computer-based inventory management systems in 1993 to better compete with Linens ‘n Things, which had utilized computer inventory management since the late 1980s. The chain's 100th store opened in Irvine, California, in October 1996; the 200th, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, followed less than three years later in August 1999. That year, Bed Bath & Beyond reached $1 billion in sales for the first time. In 2002, Bed Bath & Beyond acquired Harmon Discount Health & Beauty, later renamed Harmon Face Values. Five years later in 2007, the company acquired Buy Buy Baby, a chain of baby supply stores founded by Feinstein's sons, and began international expansion, opening their first Canadian store in Richmond Hill, Ontario. By 2011, Bed Bath & Beyond had 1,142 stores. In 2012, the company acquired Cost Plus World Market for $495 million. In 2016, the company acquired One Kings Lane, a luxury furniture e-commerce retailer; the following year, the company acquired Decorist, an online interior design platform. Decline In March 2019, three activist investment firms—Legion Partners, Macellum Advisors, and Ancora Advisors—announced their intent to remove current CEO Steven Temares and restructure Bed Bath & Beyond's current board of directors. The activist investors highlighted several instances of perceived nepotism, including the acquisition of Buy Buy Baby, which was founded by two of Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein's children, and the acquisition of Chef Central, which was created by co-founder Warren Eisenberg's son, as examples of poor business practices at Bed Bath & Beyond. This pressure led five independent directors to step down on April 22, 2019, and also resulted in the company restructuring its board to include only 10 directors instead of the previous 12 members. On April 13, 2019, there was a report that the chain would close 40 stores but open 15 new locations. On May 13, 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that CEO Steven Temares would step down "effectively immediately" and would resign his seat on the board of directors. Mary Winston, who had been appointed to the company's board as a result of the activist investment firms' efforts, replaced Temares as interim CEO. On November 4, 2019, Mark Tritton, previously chief merchandising officer at Target, started as Bed Bath & Beyond's CEO. To combat declining profitability, Bed Bath & Beyond, which had for decades used coupon mailers and other promotional discounting tactics to attract consumers, announced in April 2019 that it would reduce its use of promotional coupons and tighten restrictions on their use. The chain also announced the development of new private label brands and concept stores. As of 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond operated approximately 1,530 stores in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada. In addition to more than 1,020 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the company also operated approximately 280 Cost Plus World Markets, 100 Buy Buy Baby stores, roughly 80 Christmas Tree Shops, and more than 50 Harmon stores. Bed Bath & Beyond announced in January 2021 that it would stop selling MyPillow, citing poor sales. The announcement came in the wake of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, that CEO Mike Lindell supported conspiracy theories and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and amidst similar announcements by Kohl's and Wayfair. Divestitures Throughout 2020, Bed Bath & Beyond sold many of its subsidiaries. First, in April, One Kings Lane was sold to CSC Generation. Later that year in October, the company announced plans to sell the 80-store Christmas Tree Shops chain, along with its Massachusetts distribution center, to Massachusetts-based Handil Holdings LLC; the acquisition was finalized the following month. Finally, in December 2020, the company also announced plans to sell Cost Plus World Market to Front Burner LP; that sale was later finalized in February 2021. Bed Bath & Beyond announced in July 2020 that it planned to close more than 200 stores, about 21% of its fleet, over two years, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. 63 locations targeted for closure were named that September, followed by another 43 in January 2021. In January 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond announced the closure of 37 more locations. In March 2022, Ryan Cohen, former CEO of Chewy and a large shareholder of Bed Bath & Beyond, sent an open letter, as part of a Schedule 13D filing, to the Board of Directors calling for Buy Buy Baby to be sold or spun off at a favorable valuation. Subsequently, Bed Bath & Beyond reached a deal to give Cohen three board seats in exchange for his cooperation and the creation of a committee to execute his proposed plan. In July 2022, FCM BBBY Holdings, LLC, managed by Jake Freeman, also sent an open letter, as part of a Schedule 13G filing, asking the board of directors to consider their proposed plan to reduce Bed Bath & Beyond's debt and improve liquidity through convertible bond issuance. Come July, significant changes to the company's executive leadership were announced: Mark Tritton would leave his role as president and chief executive officer, to be replaced by Sue Gove in an interim capacit.... Discover the Cara C Putman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Cara C Putman books.