Bed Bath & the great Beyond: How the home-goods giant went bankrupt

The entrance to a Bed Bath & Beyond store is seen in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sunday, April 23, 2023. One of the original big box retailers, the company filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Over the weekend, Bed Bath & Beyond announced it was going out of business and would close its 360 stores.

Bed Bath & Beyond said Sunday that it filed for bankruptcy, after the 52-year-old retailer failed to fully reckon with the rise of online shopping. Closing sales at the company’s 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will begin Wednesday.https://t.co/L01BoZ6ReL pic.twitter.com/IcHDs4SVbx

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 23, 2023

So what happened? Former executives say the company “missed the boat” on the internet, promoting “offline shopping” as recently as 2019. There was also a disastrous attempt to replace brand-name goods with store brands like Everhome and Nestwell – a move that led to the ouster of the company’s CEO and founders. Finally, there’s the pandemic – which drastically cut store traffic at a time when it was already struggling.