[UPDATE] Bed Bath & Beyond Closing Five More Georgia Stores

Bed Bath & Beyond has announced another round of store closings, including five more in Georgia.  In the coming weeks, Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Brunswick, Canton, Cumming, Duluth, and Gainesville are all slated to close in addition to the previously announced closure in Buckhead.  Given our coverage area is primarily metro Atlanta, the Duluth location is the one we are most familiar with, but all locations seem to be located in significant shopping centers in their respective markets, according to data we reviewed.  

The new wave of 149 closures comes on the heels of news that the struggling retailer planned to close 87 stores as it worked to stabilize its operations and remain a going concern.  The new round of closures, like the original list, includes both Bed Bath & Beyond stores as well as units of  Buybuy Baby, a subsidiary.  The company will close all 52 of its Harmon Stores as part of its efforts to conserve cash and remain in business.  

Unaffected by the chain's recent struggles are brands it sold to others in recent years, including Christmas Tree Shops (sold to Handil Holdings LLC in 2020), online retailer One Kings Lane (sold in 2020 to CSC Generation), and Cost Plus World Market (sold in 2021 to Front Burner LP.) 

At its peak in 2017, the retailer had 1,600 stores open across all its banners.

In Duluth, where Bed Bath & Beyond and Party City share a former Big Star/A&P grocery space in Gwinnett Marketfair, retailers such as ROSS and Burlington could have interest given the attractive co-tenancy in T.J. Maxx and Marshalls and their current absence from the Gwinnett Place market.  The Bed Bath & Beyond is about 30,000 square feet with neighbor Party City about 15,000 square feet.  Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January although it has yet to reveal any store closures.  

Elsewhere in Georgia, Bed Bath & Beyond closures are slated to occur at Canton Marketplace in Canton, where the store is 23,391 square feet and could garner interest from a variety of regional and national retailers.  Another store slated to close is in Cumming where the retailer is situated adjacent to a Ross and Target in a smaller center close to the sprawling Cumming Marketplace.  

Other Georgia stores are slated to close in McEver Corners,  a smaller center in Gainesville, and Golden Isles Plaza, a power center in Brunswick, not far from St. Simons Island.  

Among the other retailers that may have interest in some of the soon to shutter Bed Bath & Beyond stores are Home Sense, a new HomeGoods-like retailer from TJX Companies, Public Lands, a new concept from Dick's Sporting Goods, and Brandsmart USA, an electronics retailer now owned by Atlanta-based Aarons, which as we recently noted, is growing again, but in smaller spaces. 

In metro Atlanta, much of a former Bed Bath & Beyond store that closed in 2022 in East Cobb is slated to reopen later this summer as a new, smaller format concept store from Barnes & Noble.  In Dunwoody, a former Bed Bath & Beyond store reopened last year as a new Academy Sports + Outdoors.  

Are you surprised by the stores added to the closure list? What retailers would you like to see expand in spaces being vacated by Bed Bath & Beyond?  What retailer of yesteryear do you miss most?

Please share your thoughts below.