Bed Bath & Beyond taps Walgreens exec for key role
Bed Bath & Beyond has a new chief merchant.
The home goods chain named Joe Hartsig as executive VP, chief merchandising officer of Bed Bath & Beyond and president of the company’s cosmetics, health and beauty business, Harmon Stores Inc., effective immediately.
Most recently, Hartsig served as senior VP and chief merchandising officer at Walgreens, where he managed the front of store retail products division. Prior to Walgreens, which he joined in 2013, Hartsig served as senior VP, GMM, at Walmart’s Sam’s Club. Before that, he was with Motorola.
Hartsig’s appointment comes as Mark Tritton, who joined Bed Bath & Beyond as CEO in late 2019 from Target Corp., where he was chief merchant, is working to turn around the struggling chain. In December, Bed Bath & Beyond announced the departure of six executives, including the company’s chief merchant and chief marketing officer. Most recently, it announced a reduction in the size of its corporate workforce as part of a restructuring to streamline field operations.
At Bed Bath & Beyond, Hartsig, who will report directly to Tritton, will be responsible for developing and implementing its product strategy, which involves launching new private label brands, one of the keys to its new strategic plan.
“Joe's experience as one of the leading innovators in retail makes him perfectly suited to help re-establish our authority in the home, baby and beauty markets and we're excited to welcome him to this critically important role,” said Tritton. “Improving the curation and differentiation of our assortment is our number one strategic priority, and Joe will be the driving force behind our ambition to make it easy to feel at home with Bed Bath & Beyond, while also providing the leadership and vision needed to grow our Harmon business."
In a statement, Hartsig said the opportunity to help rebuild “an iconic brand like Bed Bath & Beyond was too good to miss.
"Mark [Tritton] has a clear vision to reconstruct a modern, durable business model with a differentiated merchandising strategy at its heart,” he added.
The company said it is on track in its search to fill a number of other strategic leadership roles and that it would provide an update on additional hires soon.