Bed Bath & Beyond Hope

The near-bankrupt retailer was hit by Covid, but it has plenty of its own missteps to blame

- By James E. Ellis

In late summer, as Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. faced plunging sales and a revolt by suppliers angry over unpaid bills, the company’s management called a meeting. Interim Chief Executive Officer Sue Gove told staff at headquarters in Union, New Jersey, that more face time would help address the retailer’s mounting woes, according to six former managers and employees who attended but asked not to be named talking about internal company business.

To many employees—most of whom had already returned to the office three days a week starting last March—the request seemed like just another example of how executives were mired in minutiae as the chain barreled toward bankruptcy. One employee spoke up and said an extra day in the office wouldn’t turn around the struggling company. Many in the room nodded or applauded, according to the former managers and employees.

When other well-known stores have spiraled into distress in recent years, e-commerce often took the blame. But the case of Bed Bath & Beyond is more complicated. Although the chain was hurt by online rivals such as Amazon.com Inc., its undoing is also a story of how attempting to abandon a company’s strategy and quickly reinvent itself during a time of financial weakness can end in tears.

Layoffs, management changes, boardroom shake-ups, stock buybacks, and strategic overhauls are go-to maneuvers for modern business, and Bed Bath & Beyond tried them all. But at almost every recent turn, the company took steps that led it deeper into a financial quagmire.