As it continues cost-cutting measures, Bed Bath & Beyond has announced that it is closing more stores including all of its stand-alone Harmon locations.
According to a statement received from Bed Bath & Beyond:
As we continue to work with our advisors to consider multiple paths, we are implementing actions to manage our business as efficiently as possible. The company has initiated the closure of an additional 87 Bed Bath & Beyond and five buybuy BABY stores. This store fleet reduction expands the Company’s ongoing closure program of approximately 150 lower-producing Bed Bath & Beyond banner stores. Additionally, the company announced the closure of all Harmon locations. We will update all stakeholders on our plans as they develop and finalize.
The Harmon closing comes as Bed Bath & Beyond’s financial condition has continued to decline. Bed Bath & Beyond acquired Harmon in 2002 when it was headquartered and largely operated in New Jersey, The company offered low-price beauty supplies, personal care items and over-the-counter drugs in small stores often located near office and industrial parks so as to attract shoppers going and coming from work. After the acquisition, Bed Bath & Beyond developed Harmon departments in its namesake stores featuring an edited version of the independent store assortment not only to build sales but also traffic with items ranging from toothpaste to aspirin to mascara that are purchased more frequently than housewares and home furnishings.
The Harmon website now redirects customers to the Bed Bath & Beyond site where a notice offers a thank you to loyal customers and goes on to say that “unfortunately” the company has decided to close its Harmon stores but invites shoppers to find favorite products on bedbathandbeyond.com. A click-through sends customers to a dedicated health & beauty landing page on bedbathandbeyond.com.
A Bed Bath & Beyond spokesperson HomePage News contacted about Harmon operations in the company’s namesake stores responded emphasizing the integration of the goods that would have been identified with Harmon into the Bed Bath & Beyond operations. The spokesperson noted that shoppers could still find their favorite health, beauty, and wellness products at nearby Bed Bath & Beyond stores, online at bedbathandbeyond.com, and on the company’s app 24/7.
Although it initially added some independent locations after the acquisition, Bed Bath & Beyond mostly built on the purchase by establishing Harmon departments in Bed Bath & Beyond stores.
Harmon operates a few stores in New York, but the overwhelming majority of Harmon locations still are in New Jersey. Of the additional Bed, Bath & Beyond locations shuttering in the latest round of closings, they range across the United States but about a third are in the Northeast.
