What’s up with home?

The home goods business has been a source of weakness for Target, and a lot of other retailers, during the past few years, as the nation’s economy struggled and the housing market tanked. It would be easy to blame the recession, but then how does one explain the performance of Bed Bath & Beyond, where recent results show consumers are buying home goods and often at full margin? The company produced an 11.5% same-store sales increase during its fourth quarter ended Feb. 27, far better than a forecast 3% to 5% increase, and profits surged to $226 million from $141.4 million the prior year. Comps increased 7.3% during the company’s third quarter.

As one of the winners in the home goods space, Target can look forward to increased competition from Bed Bath & Beyond, as the company indicated it will open 60 new stores this year on top of 67 new units last year that left the company with a year-end total of 965 Bed Bath & Beyond stores.