New York
Act Daily News
—
Bed Bath & Beyond is closing 150 extra shops — only a week after the struggling retailer introduced the closure of 87 places.
The firm’s brick-and-mortar footprint has already shrunk dramatically, a regulatory submitting confirmed late Monday, and the brand new closings imply it’ll have shuttered 400 shops prior to now yr — virtually half the 950 or so shops it had open in February 2022.
That consists of final week’s announcement that it was additionally closing all 49 remaining Harmon Face Value shops, which offered cosmetics; plus 5 buybuy Baby places. A listing of the brand new retailer closures wasn’t instantly out there.
A turnaround doesn’t look imminent: The embattled residence items chain forecasts first quarter gross sales to be down by 30% to 40% with “sequential, quarterly sales improvement thereafter” the submitting mentioned.
The firm mentioned Tuesday it raised some $1 billion by way of an providing of most well-liked inventory and warrants in a last-ditch effort to stave off chapter. On Monday, the corporate mentioned it appointed Holly Etlin, a chapter professional, as interim chief monetary officer.
Bed Bath & Beyond mentioned Tuesday it’ll finally have 360 shops and 120 buybuyBaby shops. That implies that the corporate can have introduced plans to shut almost 500 of the shops it had only a yr in the past, and the brand new firm will likely be about half of the dimensions of the outdated one
The chain has mentioned in current weeks that it had defaulted on a mortgage and should not be capable to stay in business, elevating considerations about its future. Bed Bath & Beyond held talks in current days with an funding agency to underwrite a good portion of the proposed providing, in accordance with Reuters.
Bed Bath and Beyond has been a part of the meme inventory phenomenon, with shares skyrocketing as a lot as 400% final yr when activist investor and GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen took a stake and sought adjustments.
Shares of the retailer, which closed up 92% at $5.86 in a rollercoaster session Monday, had been down 40% in in pre-market buying and selling Tuesday.
Founded in 1971, Bed Bath & Beyond grew to become a staple for inexpensive residence decor, kitchenware and faculty dorm room furnishings. It’s additionally recognized for its ubiquitous 20% off blue coupons, and cavernous shops with merchandise stacked excessive to the ceilings.
But the corporate struggled to make the transition to on-line procuring and fend off bigger chains reminiscent of Walmart and Target
(TGT). Many customers switched to these rivals because the novelty of Bed Bath & Beyond’s coupons light.
The firm was additionally hit onerous through the pandemic, closing shops briefly throughout 2020 whereas rivals remained open. The firm misplaced 17% of its gross sales in 2020 and 14% in 2021.
– Act Daily News’s Nathaniel Meyersohn and Reuters contributed to this report
Source: www.cnn.com