5 ms·

Bed, Bath, Beyond will close about 150 stores and reduce its workforce by 20%

38 points by aruanavekar 4y ago

effnorwood 4y ago
bdcravens 4y ago
Ten years ago BBB was a great place to buy dishes. Tons of variety. When I was buying dishes for my new house recently, virtually no variety. It also feels like a lot of their products have been replaced with the kind of cheap junk you'd buy on Amazon and not worry if it broke.
- brundolf 4y ago
  I seem to remember them having more and more "as seen on TV" gadgets in the aisles as time went on. Weird vibe
- gs17 4y ago
  Yeah, a week or two ago I was trying to find some kitchen thing (don't remember exactly what) and thought to look at their selection. It was something I expected a bunch of kinds of, and they had one kind, which didn't meet my needs while also being much more expensive than what we ended up with from Target.
- simplyaccont 4y ago
  stopped by BBB a couple of weeks ago. Also was shopping for some new dishes. Everything is house brand (with exception of electronics mostly). No more gadgets/etc. Place looked like ghost town
sem000 4y ago
Coincidently, my wife and I drive by one of their stores that I didn’t realize was so close to our current home. I asked her if she knew it was there and she said she refuses to go there because they are 2-3x the price of Amazon, even with all their gimmicky 20% coupons. I understand how Amazon can best out on product costs, but being 50-75% less seems crazy to me.
- illegalsmile 4y ago
  BBB is stupid expensive compared to Amazon/online and even other B&M stores like Target, TJ Maxx and the like. A few years back they gave me the run around on returning a broken gifted dish set and refused to do it in-store even though I had all the information. On my way out I told the manager "this is part of why this store won't exist in 5 years." I had to mail back a heavy dish set to return it rather than them taking it in-store.
- sjcoles 4y ago
  You can find clearance name brand things there for 50-75% off of MSRP in the returns section. A BBBY is right next to a Target I frequent so I look every couple weeks. I got a 12" Staub skillet for $80 and a 4qt Le Cruset dutch oven for $100, and a smaller Lodge dutch oven for $40.
blippage 4y ago
Brit here, so I'm observing from outside. If they're cutting workforces and raising debt, I'd reckon this is the beginning of the end. Frankly, I think it's throwing good money after bad. I've taken a casual interest on some of the travails of the US retail sector, and I'd rate the odds as being against them.
- mdavis6890 4y ago
  Not necessarily - reducing the workforce and closing stores may well be a healthy consolidation. Taking on debt may perform the same function on the balance sheet. You should worry if they take on debt to expand stores or the workforce.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I worked for Ritz Camera back in the day and was mostly onto better things when they began this process, but I can say from my experience that there's really no coming back from it.
- dragontamer 4y ago
  AMD wasn't part of retail, but they cut like 20% of their staff in the high-flying tech field and then bet it all on Zen processors, and their "custom" projects (XBox and PS4/PS5). Needless to say, it worked out for AMD. ------ Its possible to survive downturns. You need to cut staff, stabilize the company, and then turn it all around. It takes a good management team with long-term vision. I think "Best Buy" was a good turnaround in the past 10 years, and actually retail. So maybe a better example? I dunno enough about BBBY. But its "possible" to turn a company around. I admit that most of these cases look like a lost cause though (Kodak, Sears, K-Mart, etc. etc.)
  - blippage 4y ago
    > Kodak, Sears, K-Mart, etc. etc Yeah, those kinds of names I had in mind. Skimming through some of the other comments on this thread I'd put it in the "lost cause" category. These things can "kinda" turn around, by which I mean there are a lot of false dawns and people think they're in a recovery situation, only for the thing to grind lower longer-term. In investing, never say never, of course. Miracles do happen, but I think the outlook is bleak for this company.
rdtwo 4y ago
Bed bath and beyond is the new Sears/Kmart. Zombie store that well survive way longer than it reasonably should as part of some sort of investment scam
insane_dreamer 4y ago
A shorter name might help

38 points by aruanavekar 4y ago

Ten years ago BBB was a great place to buy dishes. Tons of variety. When I was buying dishes for my new house recently, virtually no variety. It also feels like a lot of their products have been replaced with the kind of cheap junk you'd buy on Amazon and not worry if it broke.

brundolf 4y ago
I seem to remember them having more and more "as seen on TV" gadgets in the aisles as time went on. Weird vibe
gs17 4y ago
Yeah, a week or two ago I was trying to find some kitchen thing (don't remember exactly what) and thought to look at their selection. It was something I expected a bunch of kinds of, and they had one kind, which didn't meet my needs while also being much more expensive than what we ended up with from Target.
simplyaccont 4y ago
stopped by BBB a couple of weeks ago. Also was shopping for some new dishes. Everything is house brand (with exception of electronics mostly). No more gadgets/etc. Place looked like ghost town

sem000 4y ago

Coincidently, my wife and I drive by one of their stores that I didn’t realize was so close to our current home. I asked her if she knew it was there and she said she refuses to go there because they are 2-3x the price of Amazon, even with all their gimmicky 20% coupons. I understand how Amazon can best out on product costs, but being 50-75% less seems crazy to me.

illegalsmile 4y ago
BBB is stupid expensive compared to Amazon/online and even other B&M stores like Target, TJ Maxx and the like. A few years back they gave me the run around on returning a broken gifted dish set and refused to do it in-store even though I had all the information. On my way out I told the manager "this is part of why this store won't exist in 5 years." I had to mail back a heavy dish set to return it rather than them taking it in-store.
sjcoles 4y ago
You can find clearance name brand things there for 50-75% off of MSRP in the returns section. A BBBY is right next to a Target I frequent so I look every couple weeks. I got a 12" Staub skillet for $80 and a 4qt Le Cruset dutch oven for $100, and a smaller Lodge dutch oven for $40.

blippage 4y ago

Brit here, so I'm observing from outside. If they're cutting workforces and raising debt, I'd reckon this is the beginning of the end. Frankly, I think it's throwing good money after bad. I've taken a casual interest on some of the travails of the US retail sector, and I'd rate the odds as being against them.

mdavis6890 4y ago
Not necessarily - reducing the workforce and closing stores may well be a healthy consolidation. Taking on debt may perform the same function on the balance sheet. You should worry if they take on debt to expand stores or the workforce.
hotpotamus 4y ago
I worked for Ritz Camera back in the day and was mostly onto better things when they began this process, but I can say from my experience that there's really no coming back from it.
dragontamer 4y ago
AMD wasn't part of retail, but they cut like 20% of their staff in the high-flying tech field and then bet it all on Zen processors, and their "custom" projects (XBox and PS4/PS5). Needless to say, it worked out for AMD. ------ Its possible to survive downturns. You need to cut staff, stabilize the company, and then turn it all around. It takes a good management team with long-term vision. I think "Best Buy" was a good turnaround in the past 10 years, and actually retail. So maybe a better example? I dunno enough about BBBY. But its "possible" to turn a company around. I admit that most of these cases look like a lost cause though (Kodak, Sears, K-Mart, etc. etc.)
- blippage 4y ago
  > Kodak, Sears, K-Mart, etc. etc Yeah, those kinds of names I had in mind. Skimming through some of the other comments on this thread I'd put it in the "lost cause" category. These things can "kinda" turn around, by which I mean there are a lot of false dawns and people think they're in a recovery situation, only for the thing to grind lower longer-term. In investing, never say never, of course. Miracles do happen, but I think the outlook is bleak for this company.

rdtwo 4y ago

Bed bath and beyond is the new Sears/Kmart. Zombie store that well survive way longer than it reasonably should as part of some sort of investment scam

insane_dreamer 4y ago

A shorter name might help