The chain of Bed Bath & Beyond stores in New Jersey is coming to an end. The NJ-based company’s store is ending its 51-year run and having a “store closing sale.”
Located on 740 Rte 73 S in the Willow Ridge Plaza, Bed Bath & Beyond offers a cozy, comfortable, and cute home decorative vibe with many useful essentials sold. There were few people shopping, and those people were just walking around and observing all the sales the store had to offer. There were many signs around the store advertising the sales, such as “now save 20-30% off storewide!” and “shop early! what’s here today could be gone tomorrow.” They were selling a wide variety of items, from kitchenware to duvet covers. For every home essential available, there was an empty rack above, below, or next to it. One bedroom section of the store had entirely nothing on the racks, just a pillow or two nearby. Additionally, there were Christmas and Easter items on sale, such as stockings or plastic eggs.
Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971, and it gained success with its sales of cute home decor. It peaked in 2017, with 1,552 stores. People enjoyed shopping there because of its wide selection of decor for different rooms in a house; bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, or dining room! Having local stores that provide people with everyday items was useful for the time it lasted.
However, the success of online shopping and other stores such as Target and Walmart became a threat to Bed Bath & Beyond. They struggled to compete with those other businesses and began to fall off. Then, when the pandemic hit, it made in-person decor shopping harder, another major contributor to the business’ failure. Stores such as Amazon, Etsy, and Redbubble had products so useful that when the lockdown was lifted, people continued to shop on their computers. This led to many more problems for Bed Bath & Beyond.
Bed Bath & Beyond had been facing financial difficulties for the past several years. However, more recently they had been struggling with credit rating downgrades, cash flow restraints, and inventory reductions. They lost the resources they needed which led to their debt under the US Bankruptcy Code. In February 2022, they lost 599 stores and planned on closing 200 more. As of January 2023, they’ve lost stores in 36 countries in North America. They’ve also reduced their employees and salaries. No buyers meant no sales and no sales meant no salaries for the employees.
Despite this, Bed Bath & Beyond still provides useful items that can be used daily. From bedrooms to kitchens, the store offered so much, and to see it go is very upsetting. However, until they close, people have an opportunity to buy home necessities at much lower prices than they previously were to help show support for the fallen business.