Loyal Bed Bath & Beyond NYC clients are ‘devastated’ after filing for bankruptcy

metro

by Haley Brown And Ronnie Reyes

April 23, 2023 | 3:42 p.m

New York City Bed Bath & Beyond shoppers were “devastated” that the home goods retailer filed for bankruptcy Sunday — and flocked to its Chelsea location to stock up on goods ahead of the expected closing.

Many customers at the Sixth Avenue retailer bemoaned the hit to brick-and-mortar shopping — the company will close its 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and 120 Buy Buy BABY stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey federal court.

“I am devastated,” Stephen Bonamassa, 41, told The Post, adding that he was looking forward to “stocking up and stocking up” on whatever he could from the store before it closed.

Bonamassa, the creative director who lives in Chelsea and shops at the store regularly, bemoaned the loss of the once-popular retailer, noting that amid a flurry of physical store closures in the US, online shopping may soon be the only option.

“It’s really a shame because… where are you supposed to find your bedding? Where are you supposed to find all this stuff?”

“What will the children of our next generation do? Like Amazon. That’s it,” he said.

Besides reporting the bankruptcy, the company indicated that customers will have Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays to use the remaining 20% ​​off coupons at their stores.

John Bloomfield, a 69-year-old private piano instructor, was one of the shoppers who tried to take advantage of the short window, rushing into the Chelsea store after his gift card failed to work online.

“I got a gift card from a student and thought they filed for bankruptcy, I better use it,” he said.

Fellow shopper Eileen Robert, a realtor and artist who lives in Chelsea, said the shop had been her “go to for a long time” – but she wasn’t surprised it closed.

“I spent a lot of money here, but it’s not very user-friendly,” she said of Bed Bath & Beyond. “And they don’t have a lot of goods here, and they haven’t had a lot of goods in a long time.”

She recalled a recent frustrating encounter at the store where she wanted to buy a tea kettle but was told by the staff that all of their 20’s were out of stock and that they would not order any more despite the item’s apparent popularity.

“It was a big clue that they didn’t seem to know what they were doing,” said Robert. “It’s not good management.”

Another customer at the Chelsea store, a 55-year-old actress and former ballet dancer who declined to be named, told The Post that she’d miss Bed Bath’s generous 25% discount events on Black Friday, her annual shopping ritual.

“It’s really sad that this has to change,” said an Upper West Side resident. “I’ll miss it if they’re gone, but I think they’ll come back. I don’t think they’ll be completely gone.”

She added that she hopes Bed Bath stays where it is because “I don’t like online shopping.”

“I like to see it. I like to feel it. I want to feel the texture, if it’s made cheaply,” he says. “When you buy things online, I mean, they can break. It can’t be what you thought. And it hurts to return them.”

The home goods retailer — made famous in the 1990s as a shopping destination for couples recording weddings and planning new babies — has seen declining demand in recent years as its marketing strategy to sell more brand-name products fails. .

Moves last year to abandon that strategy, and bring in more national brands that shoppers identify with, didn’t show signs of working, as the company reported a loss of about $393 million after sales fell 33% for the quarter ended Nov. 26.

In January, the company cast doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern just months after announcing more than $500 million in new financing, as well as job cuts and closing 150 stores.