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Struggling retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. disclosed this week that it will close 150 more stores in the United States, including its 15-year-old store in Noblesville and four other Indiana stores.
The Noblesville store has been a tenant at Hamilton Town Center since the mall opened in 2008.
The company released a list of the 150 stores that will be closed, although a timeline for their closure was not provided. The Indiana stores on the list:
- Noblesville – 14139 Town Center Blvd. Suite 800
- Bloomington – 731 College Mall Road S.
- Fort Wayne – 4020 West Jefferson Blvd.
- Lafayette – 3555 State Road 38 E.
- Valparaiso – 91 Silhavy Road
The Bed Bath & Beyond location at 10350 East U.S. Highway 36 in Avon had been announced for closure in another list issued last month.
Area stores at Greendale Centre in Greenwood and Village Park Plaza in Carmel have not been scheduled for closing.
The latests closings come after the Union, New Jersey-based retailer said it had raised about $1 billion through a preferred stock offering and warrants to purchase its common stock in order to pay off debt.
The company said in a news release Tuesday that it received initial gross proceeds of $225 million through the offering, and expects to receive an additional $800 million in future installments, assuming certain conditions are met.
President and CEO Sue Grove said the move will provide runway to execute its turnaround plan.
“We are optimizing our store fleet and supply chain and continuing to invest in our omni-always capabilities,” Grove said in written remarks. “This will enable us to better serve our customers, and grow profitably, by directing merchandise where and how they want to shop with us. We are also prioritizing availability of leading national and emerging direct-to-consumer brands our customers know and love.”
The company’s volatile stock, which rose 92% on Monday, fell 47% on Tuesday, ending the day at $3.01, down 82% over the past year. The stock sat at around $2.61 as of 11:45 a.m. on Thursday.
In early January, Bed Bath & Beyond warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy. A few weeks later, it said it was in default on its loans and didn’t have sufficient funds to repay what it owes.
The latest store closures come as the chain has been reducing its footprint dramatically over the past year. According to a regulatory filing, it will have shuttered more than 400 stores, nearly half of its fleet. That includes the remaining 50 standalone Harmon Face Value Stores, which sells beauty and household products.
The company said it anticipates keeping 360 of its namesake stores in addition to 120 BuyBuy Baby stores.
Bed Bath & Beyond also said in the filing that it expects sales at stores opened at least a year to be down anywhere from 30% to 40% during its first fiscal quarter, with “sequential quarterly improvement after that.”
The company said it plans to continue streamlining its supply chain, technology, expense structure and business processes to help strengthen business partnerships with suppliers, real estate, and service partners.
“As we make important strategic and operational changes, we will continue to take disciplined steps to enhance our cost base and improve our financial position,” Grove said.
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They really didn’t have any troubles until they went woke and did their sjw deed of discontinuing products they’ve sold for years.
I doubt that dropping My Pillow was a significant factor.
In the real world, only us old folks still like to see and touch fabrics (sheets, towels, blankets, clothes) in stores before buying. The kids shop online for everything.
It’s been in trouble the past decade, with quarters of middling growth intermixed with quarters of losses. It really snowballed, though, in 2019, once some activist investors forced out the CEO and reshaped the board.