In New York City (where mobs cheer on the firing of Tucker Carlson but protest against a vicious attacker on public transit dying), Bed Bath and Beyond's closeout sales have left shoppers less than impressed:
Doom spelled itself out over the past year as Bed Bath & Beyond continued its very expensive bid to buy back its own stock, leaving it with a massive debt that the company tried to stanch with staggered layoffs and store closures while it waited for a last-minute savior. On Sunday, the company filed for bankruptcy and announced it would be closing its remaining stores.For loyalists and fairweather shoppers alike, this meant one last ride in the historic Chelsea spot. Coupons — supposedly eternal and a company hallmark — are a particular point of tension. “They said up until Wednesday,” Carol Wang tells me, clutching a bunch of coupons by the Keurig pods. We discuss the phrasing — does “until Wednesday” include Wednesday? “I gotta get out of here or else I’ll get really annoyed,” she says. This is more or less the vibe — a woman who overhears me asking about the sale yells, “There’s, like, no sale!” People are looking for answers and one confuses me for an employee, while another customer I approach thinks that I’ve confused her for an employee. Mike, an actual employee, tells me that the store has been packed since the bankruptcy announcement. “Everyone’s going crazy over the coupons,” he said. While he expects he will lose his job, he’s relieved he won’t have to deal with the customers anymore: “They’ve been losing their minds.”
By contrast, three weeks ago on April 23rd was final day Bed Bath and Beyond Canada was in operation: I went to the South Common store that day and it was a hilarious embarrassment: the mighty giant had fallen to offering 90% discounts and if you wanted anything chances are it was no longer there: only two small shelves of cheap trinkets were left. (I haven't heard from anybody who went in March when the sale began, I presume it was similar to the NYC experience: discounts were rarer but selection was an actual thing).
Clio Chang's article unsurprisingly doesn't mention the northern subsidiary already went through this (Curbed writers aren't known for providing proper context) so that American consumers knew what to expect.
For example, the coupon talk. Coupons weren't much of a Canadian Bed Bath and Beyond staple, but what was common (and which Bed Bath and Beyond had stopped honouring) was gift cards.
Dabbs said gift cardholders are fortunate they have a window of opportunity to redeem their cards, as they join a long list of unsecured creditors owed money by Bed Bath & Beyond Canada.
"The unsecured creditors on the bottom typically get little or nothing," said Dabbs, a partner with Gehlen Dabbs Cash LLP in Vancouver.
At least as of mid-April, Canadian gift card holders in places like Vancouver or Hamilton have an extra outlet: the U.S. version of the company still accepted them for a those consumers willing to take a shopping trip (surely a boon to Erie Pennsylvania's hotel industry). Unfortunately, two days before the final Canadian store closure was when the American version declared bankruptcy as well, so that option may no longer be available either.
I guess the question is that when the U.S. version of Nordstroms shuts down, will we see a similar tunnel vision in articles written about that bankruptcy shopping experience? In the meantime, enjoy this piece of Americana which will now go the way of the Woolworth's Catalog:
