Bed Bath & Beyond To Return With Handful Of 15K SF Stores In 2025
Less than two years after closing its final store, Bed Bath & Beyond will return as a brick-and-mortar retailer in 2025.
The planned smaller-format, “neighborhood” Bed Bath & Beyond locations come via a new deal between its parent company, Beyond Inc., and retail chain Kirkland’s. The home decor retailer will serve as the exclusive brick-and-mortar operator and licensee for Beyond’s stable of brands, which include Overstock and Zulily in addition to Bed Bath & Beyond. As part of the agreement, Beyond will invest $25M in a debt-and-equity deal to improve Kirkland’s capital position and bolster growth plans, Chain Store Age reported.
The deal follows Beyond’s partnership with The Container Store announced last week that will bring Bed Bath & Beyond products to cobranded spaces at The Container Store locations across the country. Beyond will invest $40M in The Container Store as part of a preferred equity transaction. Beyond will also integrate The Container Store’s Custom Spaces, Elfa and Preston brands into its e-commerce offerings and future Bed Bath & Beyond stores.
Kirkland's intends to start with an initial pilot of up to five physical Bed Bath & Beyond stores of no more than 15K SF.
“The key to retail is efficiency in assortment, space management, sourcing, and merchandising, all while recognizing that smaller, tighter footprints with significantly lower fixed cost models is a winning recipe,” Beyond Inc. Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis said in a statement. “We view this partnership as a meaningful step forward in our long-term vision of growing through asset-light collaboration with complementary businesses while monetizing both the intellectual property of our iconic brands as well as the suite of affinity products being developed.”
Bed Bath & Beyond stores closed in 2023 after the chain declared bankruptcy. The brand’s intellectual property was purchased by Overstock.com months later, and the company changed its name to Beyond.
As part of its agreement with Kirkland’s, Beyond will also incorporate the chain’s decor products into its websites and marketplaces. Kirkland’s has 325 stores in 35 states.
“We expect the investment from Beyond will not only enhance our financial performance but also provide meaningful opportunities to introduce Kirkland's to new customers in a cost-efficient manner while we continue to re-engage our core customer and extend our reach across multiple formats,” Kirkland’s CEO Amy Sullivan said in a statement.
The impending return of Bed Bath & Beyond follows other retailers and restaurants restructuring and bouncing back from bankruptcy over the last few months.
Hardware retailer True Value Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week but announced it would sell the business to rival Do it Best Corp. Seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster exited bankruptcy last month following its acquisition by Fortress Investment Group-backed RL Investor Holdings and that company’s commitment to more than $60M in new funding.
