August 01, 2023
It's a new day for Bed Bath & Beyond. Just one month after Overstock purchased the retailer's intellectual property, the brand has re-emerged as an online retailer specializing in furniture, kitchenwares and home goods, company officials said on Tuesday.
The new Bed Bath & Beyond website features the same look that longtime customers know, as well as steep discounts and free shipping on items that would have been found at the now-shuttered brick-and-mortar stores. Overstock's own website now redirects users to Bed Bath & Beyond, a sign that the brand integration has been finalized.
To celebrate its return, Bed Bath & Beyond is offering deals and promotions on its website and new mobile app, including a 25% off welcome coupon to anyone who shops through the app, reinstated loyalty points and a free membership to anyone who was part of the original company's loyalty program. Points from Overstock's previous loyalty program can be transferred to Bed Bath & Beyond's loyalty program.
"Overstock has a great business model with a name that does not reflect its focus on home," said Jonathan Johnson, CEO of the new Bed Bath & Beyond. "Bed Bath & Beyond is a much-loved and well-known consumer brand, which had an outdated business model that needed modernizing. Through this rebranding, we're breathing new life into Bed Bath & Beyond, positioning it as an asset-light e-commerce retailer with an expanded home furnishings and furniture assortment. Think of it as Bed Bath & a much bigger, better Beyond."
The rebranding comes just a few months after Bed Bath & Beyond, originally headquartered in Union, New Jersey, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after multiple failed attempts to raise money. The company began to liquidate assets and close its 360 stores — plus 120 Buybuy Baby locations — before its name and trademarks were purchased by Overstock in June.
Overstock then dumped its own brand name in favor of the well-established brand, which was founded in 1971 and grew as a mainstay for shoppers eager to find discounts on home goods.
Bed Bath & Beyond started to falter and lose relevancy as retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Target invested heavily in home goods. The company's previous CEO, Mark Tritton, doubled down on private-label items in an attempt to stave off financial difficulties, which failed and deterred customers, the Washington Post reported.
Stores fared well during the COVID-19 pandemic, but as retailers reopened and inflation began to rise, vendors pulled out of agreements with Bed Bath & Beyond and shoppers opted for competitors. After the company announced its bankruptcy filing, it kept many of its stores open to allow customers to cash in gift cards. Retailers like Boscov's, Big Lots and The Container Store were also accepting Bed Bath & Beyond coupons.
Brick-and-mortar Bed Bath & Beyond stores are not expected to return anytime soon.
"Never say never," Johnson told CNN. "We're focused on this transition now and we like our asset-light business model... But never say never. We'll look, we may test, but right now, it's not in the current strategic plan."
The past few years have been especially turbulent for retailers forced to adapt to shifts in the retail landscape. David's Bridal, the Conshohocken-based wedding dress chain that announced mass layoffs in April, was purchased last week by CION Investment Corporation. The sale keeps 195 of its stores open and spares 7,000 jobs nationwide.
After Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed all of its more than 700 stores in 2018, the shop returned to Macy's locations ahead of the holiday season last year. Babies R Us, its sister company, opened its own flagship store at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford last month.
