If you’re a millennial, you grew up walking down the stark white, sterile aisles of Bed, Bath & Beyond – aisles filled from floor to ceiling with $40 throw pillows and overpriced, fluffy towels.
At least, that’s how it looked from broke-ass, college me.
As I became the adult, married me, it looked at it as a treasure trove of home goods… still overpriced, still sterile feeling, but a lot more fun.
The history:
Bed Bath & Beyond was established in 1971 under the original name, Bed N Bath. In 1985, the first “superstore” opened, and two years later the company name changed to what we all know now.
Fast forward to 2000, Bed Bath & Beyond held no debt and utilized cash flow for massive expansion by doing a two-for-one stock split to fund growth up to 311 stores in 43 states.
In May 2023, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that they would be shutting down their stores. Reports were coming out left and right that they were bankrupt (filed in April) and had no money to pay rent, their suppliers, and more. They shut down all stores by the end of June.
Why did Bed, Bath, & Beyond shut down? (From the marketing perspective)
They never evolved.
BB&B has looked the exact same as they have – with some very minor changes – since the early 2000s. They outlasted a major competitor, Linens N Things. However, they never took any real measures to evolve with the times.
Their evolution consisted of creating their online site, which was very underwhelming in both usage and product availability.
So, why (and how) are they back?
As of August 2023, Overstock – a company known for online-only selling of liquidated inventory from other retailers – bought the intellectual property rights for Bed, Bath, & Beyond in bankruptcy court.
What does that mean?
Overstock is now rebranding as Bed Bath & Beyond, but with a more evolved outlook. This means that they are sticking to the online-only, lower priced model that Overstock has always known; however, they are bringing Bed Bath & Beyond into the modern 2020s – where, in my opinion, they should have been all along.
This is why evolution is imperative!
What brand should I do next?? Let me know in the comments!
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