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- Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 protection in New Jersey Sunday, a court filing showed.
- The retailer had suffered from sliding sales, making its financial position increasingly precarious.
- It warned earlier this year there was considerable doubt about its long-term prospects.
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey Sunday, according to a court filing.
The US home goods retailer warned in January there was considerable doubt about its survival after grappling with sliding sales.
The chain has closed hundreds of stores, cut jobs and taken other steps in recent years in a bid to shore up its finances.
A turnaround plan to raise $1 billion from a hedge fund in February was subsequently abandoned. In another last-ditch move, Bed Bath & Beyond tried this month to raise $300 million from other investors.
All those efforts have failed to adequately improve its situation, however.
Its shares have fallen 87% this year, valuing the company at just $138 million on Friday. The company also recently missed payments on bonds worth about $1 billion.
A number of factors have played a part in the downfall of the retailer that started out with just one store in New Jersey in the early 1970s. It was forced to temporarily close its stores during the pandemic, which hit sales in both 2020 and 2021. Competition from both physical and online rivals has also increased.
The retailer said in February it aimed to reduce the number of US stores to about 360, down from a peak of more than 1,500, as well as about 120 BuyBuy Baby stores.
A series of turnaround efforts in recent years fell short and it's experienced a series of management changes too.
Bed Bath & Beyond has long been known for its discount coupons. Its former president, Arthur Stark, told Bloomberg that offering coupons wasn't the right approach in the long term as it made it difficult to phase them out without alienating customers.
Mark Tritton became CEO in 2019 and tried to move away from big brands in favor of its own private-label offerings.
However, customers voted with their feet, prompting a reversal of the policy last year. Tritton was ousted as CEO last June and replaced by Sue Gove in the wake of falling sales.
Holly Etlin, who was appointed as interim CFO in February, has been tapped to serve as chief restructuring officer and will oversee the liquidation and sale process, the Chapter 11 filing shows.
She took over from Laura Crossen, who stepped up following the death of Gustavo Arnal in September. He died after falling from a high-rise building in Manhattan.
Crossen has since resumed her position as the chief accounting officer and vice president of finance.