Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. Bed Bath & Beyond operates many stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000.
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 17 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. 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 company went public in June 1992, making its IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange, where its stock continues to trade under ticker symbol BBBY. Bed Bath & Beyond first reached $1 billion in annual sales in 1999. In March 2019, three activist investment firms—Legion Partners, Marcellum 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 Buybuy 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 will 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, who was previously Target's chief merchandising officer, started as Bed Bath & Beyond's CEO. The company, which has for decades used coupon mailers and other promotional discounting tactics to attract consumers, also announced in April that it would reduce its use of promotional coupons and tighten restrictions on their use. To combat declining profitability, Bed Bath & Beyond is also creating private-label brands and opening “lab stores” that focus on home decor, food and drink, and health and beauty products. Bed Bath & Beyond currently operates 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 operates approximately 280 Cost Plus World Markets, 100 Buybuy Baby stores, roughly 80 Christmas Tree Shops, and more than 50 Harmon stores. The company is expected to close up to 60 stores around the United States in early 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced it would close more that 200 or 21% of its stores over 2 years.
Linen Holdings – acquired in June 2012 for $105 million
Of a Kind – acquired in August 2015 for an undisclosed amount
One Kings Lane – acquired in June 2016 for an undisclosed amount
PersonalizationMall.com – acquired in November 2016 for $190 million.
Other subsidiaries
Bed Bath & Beyond Canada L.P. - 53 stores across Canada in 9 provinces
Bed Bath & Beyond Mexico – a joint venture with Home & More to operate four stores in Mexico under the name "Bed Bath & Beyond"
Bed Bath & Beyond Invitations – an online wedding invitation venture
New Zealand chain
There is a New Zealand chain with the name "Bed Bath & Beyond", which has no corporate connection with the American company. This chain was founded in 1995 as Linen for Less and is New Zealands largest manchester specialist.
