UNION, N.J., May 22, 2020
/PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY)
today announced plans to re-open more stores and further expand
store fulfillment services as part of its phased approach to
re-opening stores across North
America, subject to state and local regulations. The
Company plans to take the following steps by June 13:
- Re-open approximately 600 additional stores to the public,
including approximately 500 Bed Bath & Beyond stores across
North America, as well as around
50 Christmas Tree Shop stores and around 50 Cost Plus World Market
stores in the US. In addition to buybuy BABY and Harmon Face Values
stores, which remain open to serve essential infant, health and
personal care needs, this means around 50% of the Company's total
store fleet is expected to be open by June
13.
- Expand contactless curbside pickup services to approximately
1,350 stores in total, adding a further 600 additional locations.
Contactless curbside will be available at approximately 90% of the
Company's total store fleet across the US and Canada.
- Bring approximately 11,000 associates back from furlough as
stores re-open to the public and services are expanded across
North America.
Mark Tritton, President &
CEO, said, "We continue to respond to the COVID-19 situation with
measured, purposeful steps to help keep our people safe and our
customers served. We recently launched our Store Safety
Plan and are guided by our medical team and national, state
and local guidance to help ensure customers can shop with us
confidently.
"Customers across North America
are already taking advantage of the ease and convenience of
Buy-Online-Pick-Up-at Store (BOPIS) and contactless curbside
pickup, and we're delighted to roll-out these services to over
1,000 store locations, as well as welcoming customers back into
hundreds of our stores again as we start to re-open across the US
and Canada.
"We're seeing strong online engagement from our loyal customers
through this period. Over recent weeks in the US, traffic to our
Bed Bath & Beyond website and mobile app is up approximately
30% and digital sales have doubled. Customers are also responding
well to the launch of BOPIS and contactless curbside pickup, with
these services accounting for a meaningful percentage of our Bed
Bath & Beyond US digital sales in the last week, and we
anticipate continued growth as we expand the service to more stores
in the coming weeks.
"Our financial flexibility allows us to take this patient,
market-by-market approach, while we invest in rebuilding our
business and introducing new services for our loyal
customers. I want to thank our dedicated teams for helping us
resume operations safely and look forward to welcoming more of our
team back into our business as we re-open more stores in the coming
weeks."
Bed Bath & Beyond also announced a $10 million plan to donate essential items to
those affected by COVID-19 this week. The 'Bringing Home
Everywhere' program will deliver products that provide home comfort
and essential support to communities and those on the frontline of
the pandemic across the US and Canada.
Tritton continued, "Our homes have become even more central to
our lives during this crisis, yet we know that for many people that
sense of home has been affected by the health and economic impacts
of COVID-19. We're doing what we can to bring home everywhere,
creating comfort and providing essential support to communities
suffering in the face of this pandemic. So, whether it's fresh
sheets, pillows and towels for people in the hospital or nursing
care, food and home items for those in need, or toys or essential
infant supplies for children, we're doing what we can to make it
easy to feel at home for those most in need at this time."
While the Company continues its measured approach to re-opening
stores, it expects around half of its stores across its retail
banners to remain closed to the public through June 13, 2020. In conjunction with the
decision to further extend temporary store closures, Bed Bath &
Beyond will also extend the furlough of the majority of store
associates and a portion of corporate associates until at least
June 13, 2020. As stores re-open
during this period, the Company expects to bring approximately
11,000 associates back from furlough. The Company will continue to
pay 100% of the cost of healthcare premiums for all furloughed
associates who currently participate in the Company's health plan,
until further notice.
About Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is
an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy for our customers to
feel at home. The Company sells a wide assortment of domestic
merchandise and home furnishings. The Company also provides a
variety of textile products, amenities and other goods to
institutional customers in the hospitality, cruise line, healthcare
and other industries. Additionally, the Company is a partner
in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath &
Beyond.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, the Company's plans in response to
the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Many of these
forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such
as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate, assume,
continue, model, project, plan, goal, and similar words and
phrases, although the absence of those words does not necessarily
mean that statements are not forward-looking. The Company's
actual results and future financial condition may differ materially
from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a
result of many factors. Such factors include, without
limitation: general economic conditions including the housing
market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related
changes in the retailing environment; risks associated with
COVID-19 and the governmental responses to it, including its
impacts across the Company's businesses on demand and operations,
as well as on the operations of the Company's suppliers and other
business partners, and the effectiveness of the Company's actions
taken in response to these risks; consumer preferences, spending
habits and adoption of new technologies; demographics and other
macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending for the
types of merchandise sold by the Company; civil disturbances and
terrorist acts; unusual weather patterns and natural disasters;
competition from existing and potential competitors across all
channels; pricing pressures; liquidity; the ability to achieve
anticipated cost savings, and to not exceed anticipated costs,
associated with organizational changes and investments; the ability
to attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of the
organization; the cost of labor, merchandise and other costs and
expenses; potential supply chain disruption due to trade
restrictions, and other factors such as natural disasters, such as
pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability,
labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or operational
instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items; the ability
to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy costs and other
terms to support the Company's plans for new stores; the ability to
establish and profitably maintain the appropriate mix of digital
and physical presence in the markets it serves; the ability to
assess and implement technologies in support of the Company's
development of its omnichannel capabilities; the ability to
effectively and timely adjust the Company's plans in the face of
the rapidly changing retail and economic environment, including in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty in financial
markets; volatility in the price of the Company's common stock and
its effect, and the effect of other factors, including the COVID-19
pandemic, on the Company's capital allocation strategy; risks
associated with the ability to achieve a successful outcome for its
business concepts and to otherwise achieve its business strategies;
the impact of intangible asset and other impairments; disruptions
to the Company's information technology systems including but not
limited to security breaches of systems protecting consumer and
employee information or other types of cybercrimes or cybersecurity
attacks; reputational risk arising from challenges to the Company's
or a third party product or service supplier's compliance with
various laws, regulations or standards, including those related to
labor, health, safety, privacy or the environment; reputational
risk arising from third-party merchandise or service vendor
performance in direct home delivery or assembly of product for
customers; changes to statutory, regulatory and legal requirements,
including without limitation proposed changes affecting
international trade; changes to, or new, tax laws or interpretation
of existing tax laws; new, or developments in existing, litigation,
claims or assessments; changes to, or new, accounting standards;
and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. The Company
does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking
statements.
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SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.