Beyond Bed, Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 23 after the home goods retailer failed to secure funds to stay afloat and began a liquidation sale. 

Months later, Overstock.com, an online furniture and home furnishings retailer, announced its acquisition of certain intellectual property assets of the Bed Bath & Beyond banner from Bed Bath & Beyond under a bankruptcy court-supervised process, which License Global previously reported. 

“This acquisition is a significant and transformative step for us,” says Jonathan Johnson, chief executive officer, Overstock. “Bed Bath & Beyond is an iconic consumer brand, well-known in the home retail marketplace. The combination of our winning asset-light business model and the high awareness and loyalty of the Bed Bath & Beyond brand will improve the customer experience and position the company for accelerated market-share growth.”  

Customers of Bed Bath & Beyond will be able to access the vast and growing assortment Overstock offers, along with the kitchen, bedding and bath-related products for which Bed Bath & Beyond has been a destination for over 30 years.  

Overstock relaunched the Bed Bath & Beyond domain in Canada, with a refreshed website, mobile app and loyalty program in the U.S. upcoming. New and existing Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond customers will experience a single online shopping destination – Bedbathandbeyond.ca in Canada and Bedbathandbeyond.com in the U.S.  

The acquired Bed Bath & Beyond assets include website and domain names, trademarks, tradenames, patents, customer database, loyalty program data and other brand assets related to the Bed Bath & Beyond banner.  

Additionally, License Global previously reported that all 120 BuyBuy Baby stores are closing as its parent company, Bath & Beyond, continues through bankruptcy. But BuyBuy Baby’s brand name will continue in a $15.5 million deal approved on July 11.  

The brand’s trademark and digital assets were sold to Dream on Me as a stalking horse bid in the works since last month. The intellectual property includes digital properties, the mobile platform, business data and advertising and marketing assets. 

With these sales, it begs the question of what is next for these brands. The most obvious answer is that they will be online and sold through their respective buyers. However, there are other possibilities based on previous situations mirroring this one. 

Take Toys“R”Us, which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed its final retail stores in 2021. WHP Global acquired the controlling stake in the brand that same year, which led to its eventual revival. In December 2021, the brand announced a flagship location launch at American Dream. In late 2022, Toys“R”Us partnered with Macy’s to re-open locations, reviving the brand and its physical presence. This eventually led to the opening of a store in the Dallas Fort Worth Airport in Texas, and multiple international launches, including in the U.K. and Mexico. 

With the right partnerships, a beloved brand that has gone defunct can rise in the rankings once again. 

“We knew that would take several years,” Yehuda Shmidman, chairman, chief executive officer, WHP Global and Toys“R”Us, told License Global in the December 2022 issue. “But then something happened, which is we launched Toys“R”Us on Macy’s.com last holiday season, and the results were way above plan. At first, toy sales at Macy’s doubled with the introduction of Toys“R”Us, then they tripled. The results were outstanding. Because of that, we decided together to accelerate all the plans and even expand the plan.” 

And the plan did expand. With this in mind, what may be coming for Bed, Bath & Beyond and its other brands? 

Currently, Overstock.com does not have any physical locations, and since it now holds ownership over Bed, Bath & Beyond, physical locations are, at least currently, out of the picture. Unless ownership is transferred to a retailer that is not online only, walking through a Bed, Bath & Beyond and comparing the fluffiness of each pillow option is a thing of the past. 

As for BuyBuy Baby, the brand was acquired by Dream on Me, which sells products at Burlington, Kohl’s, Target and more. A BuyBuy Baby retail location may not be making an appearance in the near future. Still, with this deal, it’s possible that BuyBuy Baby products will be sold through various other retailers. There’s also a possibility that the brand could get its own dedicated section in a retail store, much like Toys“R”Us and Macy’s did. 

What do you think will happen with these brand acquisitions? Let us know on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.