Some retail names refuse to go away.
Circuit City, Toys R Us, Lord & Taylor, Sharper Image, FAO Schwarz, American Apparel, The Limited, and more have closed their doors, gone through a bankruptcy, then re-emerged with new owners as a digital retailer, a product line, or in rare cases, opening new stores.
”There are millions of people who had purchased these brands, who grew up with some of these brands. That equity means someone buying the brand out of bankruptcy, or some other crisis, can have instant name recognition for a different venture — be it a label or e-tailer or catalog company,” NPD Group Chief Industry Analyst Marshal Cohen told Retail Dive.
Now, after a series of deals that have brought a number of well-known retail names under one owner, the company has decided to drop the name on its over-250 brick-and-mortar locations and replace it with a version of its corporate name, Bed Bath & Beyond.
Bed Bath & Beyond makes its comeback
Bed Bath & Beyond also filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and closed its remaining stores, ending one of the most familiar names in American home retail, according to court filings on PacerMonitor.
It was later acquired out of bankruptcy by Overstock.com for $21.5 million, an online retailer, which rebranded its online presence under the classic name.
“Overstock has a great business model with a name that does not reflect its focus on home. Bed Bath & Beyond is a much-loved and well-known consumer brand, which had an outdated business model that needed modernizing,” the company’s then-CEO Jonathan Johnson said, according to Retail Dive.
The company, led by CEO Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC’s “The Profit,” has also acquired Kirkland’s Home, buybuy BABY, and most recently, The Container Store.
Kirkland’s Home stores becoming Bed Bath & Beyond Seasonal Living
As part of its Chapter 11 process, Bed Bath & Beyond closed all of its locations. Kirkland’s Home, operates 243 stores, according to its store locator page, and all of those will be rebranded as “Bed Bath & Beyond Seasonal Living,” according to an announcement from both brands on social media, titled “The next chapter for Kirkland’s,” NBC Chicago reported.
The announcement, posted to Instagram on June 23 and signed by Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Amy Sullivan, tells Kirkland’s customers that “while the name above the door is changing, the things you love most are not.”
“The same team behind your favorite seasonal decor, entertaining essentials, gifts and home accents is still here,” the message said. “We’re simply becoming something bigger.”
The company said that the remodeled stores will have “greater selection, better value, stronger pricing and more newness all year long.”
“Think of it as the best of Kirkland’s now backed by even more possibilities,” the post said. “This isnt’ goodbye – its the next chapter.”
Both Bed Bath & Beyond and Kirkland’s have removed the post from their social media.
A request for confirmation and comment from the company was not immediately returned.
TheStreet
Bed Bath & Beyond and The Container Store to co-brand stores
Bed Bath & Beyond acquired The Container Store in April for $150 million, according to an SEC filing.
In a letter to shareholders, Lemonis explained that his executive team had been looking at The Container Store since 2024, before its bankruptcy.
“What I saw over time was a business with strong brand equity, a desirable physical footprint, and, most importantly, a group of teammates who care deeply about the customer. This transaction will fill critical gaps in both our retail and home services strategy,” he wrote.
Now, the chain has shared a plan to co-brand The Container Store’s brick-and-mortar locations with the Bed Bath & Beyond name. Those stores dubbed Bed Bath & Beyond + The Container Store will reformat to offer a mix of both brand’s merchandise.
“The new format is designed to better serve the unique needs of local customers, creating a more connected home shopping experience and strengthening Bed Bath & Beyond’s role as a trusted home destination within the neighborhoods it serves,” the company shared.
At first 22 locations will be converted, with many opening within weeks, according to the company. The chain has 98 total locations, according to an April press release.
Bed Bath & Beyond has not shared if it will co-brand all The Container Store locations, but it did refer to the initial changes as “phase one.”
Bed Bath & Beyond has name recognition
While Kirkland’s remains a regional brand, and The Container Store has a relatively small footprint, Bed Bath & Beyond, which operated over 1,500 locations at its peak, according to Business Insider, has a nationally-known name.
That has ongoing value, even after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
“I think there’s a fundamental difference between having a business model problem and having a brand problem,” Michael Dart, a partner in A.T. Kearney’s private equity practice told Retail Dive. When chains close, “you end up with a lot of customers saying, ‘Wow I liked that place. I liked the store. It’s a shame it’s gone.’”
And, while I was never a regular Bed Bath & Beyond customer, I knew the chain’s big blue coupon mailers, and as someone who has covered retail for over 30 years, the name has more resonance for me than Kirkland’s or The Container Store, a brand with a name that always seemed limiting.
Buying a brand and using it to accelerate growth has become a viable strategy, Greg Portell, lead partner in the global consumer practice of consulting firm Kearney, told Retail Dive.
“Think about how hard it is to build a brand in today’s world. It’s really difficult,” he said. “…If I’m planning on monetizing that brand and bringing new life to it, then it becomes incredibly valuable. Because building that brand up is really hard.”
Related: As Americans worry about food, Walmart, Target CEOs get richer