More Bed Bath & Beyond Closures Coming: What It Means For NJ Stores

NEW JERSEY — Bed Bath & Beyond plans to close an additional 150 stores, the retailer announced Monday. The New Jersey-headquartered company didn't specify locations for the additional closures, but the update puts its fleet of Garden State shops in further peril.

Bed Bath & Beyond now intends to shutter 350 of its namesake stores, including closures that have already occurred since August, when the company announced its downsizing plans. The company also closed all remaining Harmon Face Values locations — 30 of 50 were in New Jersey — and a handful of buybuy Baby stores. Bed Bath & Beyond owns both brands.

The retailer also closed buybuy Baby in Princeton but hasn't announced intentions to close any of New Jersey's eight remaining buybuy Baby stores.

The company began the downsizing period last summer with about 900 stores, including 30 in New Jersey. Four of the state's stores have since closed — locations in Paramus, Flanders, Manalapan and Matawan.

Bed Bath & Beyond also announced Jan. 30 that five more New Jersey locations will shutter — stores in Bridgewater, Mays Landing, Mount Laurel, Kinnelon and Flemington. It wasn't immediately clear exactly when they'd close.

Those upcoming closures will bring New Jersey down to 21 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, unless the company announces more closures in the Garden State.

The retailer has openly discussed filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy since early January, but the corporation continues to pursue options in hopes to stave it off. Bed Bath & Beyond plans to raise roughly $1 billion through a last-ditch stock offering, the company announced Monday.

Filing for bankruptcy will allow Bed Bath & Beyond to re-organize its assets, while providing a potential roadmap for its future. But the timing of such a decision remains in flux.

Retailers in distress often file for bankruptcy protection after the holidays to take advantage of the seasonal sales surge. And prospective buyers sometimes wait until such filings before negotiating the purchase of assets, hoping that bankruptcy gives them leverage in negotiations.

The company's stock (BBBY) fell 48 percent Tuesday, totaling $2.64 per share as of Wednesday morning — significantly down from the five-year peak of $35.33 per share on Jan. 29, 2021.

The retailer cut more than half its workforce in four years, going from 65,000 employees at the start of 2018 to 32,000 in the first quarter of last year, according to company filings.

Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in Springfield in 1971 and had headquarters in Union.