Bed Bath & Beyond’s digital pivot continues; most stores won’t reopen before June

Bed Bath & Beyond continues to expand its fulfilment capabilities and omnichannel offerings to support increased demand across its digital channels and is also making plans to gradually reopen its stores.

The company, which expects the majority of stores across its banners to remain closed until at least May 30, 2020, is expanding buy-online-pickup-in-store and contactless curbside pickup services to at least 200 additional stores, for a total of 750 stores, or approximately 50% of its store fleet across the U.S. and Canada.  

Bed Bath & Beyond said its expanded fulfilment capabilities will enable it to ship online orders in two days or less on average, or make orders available for pick-up in less than two hours for customers using BOPIS and contactless curbside services. (As previously reported, the retailer has converted 25% of its stores into regional fulfillment centers.)

The company, whose BuyBuyBABY and Harmon stores have remained open during the pandemic, intends to gradually re-open its other retail banners, starting with approximately 20 stores, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Christmas Tree Shops stores, by May 22, subject to state and local regulations.

"Our strong financial flexibility and liquidity allows us to take this measured, market-by-market approach to re-opening stores,” said Mark Tritton, president and CEO, Bed Bath & Beyond. “We will only open our doors to the public when we believe it is safe to do so, while carefully managing costs and monitoring performance as we scale up our operations over time. This approach allows us to continue to make strategic investments in our digital and fulfilment capabilities to build an omni-always shopping experience for our loyal customers.”

To promote a safe in-store shopping experience, Bed Bath & Beyond is implementing a new Store Safety Plan, that includes occupancy limits, early shopping hours for customers over 60 and those at risk and other measures.