Report: Bed Bath & Beyond in Talks to Sell Buybuy Baby
Bed Bath & Beyond is in talks to sell its Buybuy Baby chain to retail investment firm Go Global Retail, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Go Global Retail owns children's clothing brand Janie and Jack and womenswear label ModCloth, which it acquired from Walmart. It primarily invests in consumer retail and fashion businesses.
Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, said it expects to close all of its 360 namesake stores and 120 Buybuy Baby locations and their websites by June 30. Reportedly, if Go Global Retail buys the chain, it plans to keep stores open, the WSJ report said. The retailer is also reportedly fielding interest from online retailer Overstock.com for the intellectual property behind the namesake Bed Bath & Beyond banner, the WSJ report added. Under that potential deal, Overstock would close all remaining physical locations of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Total Retail's Take: Today's Buybuy Baby news isn't surprising. When Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in April, it said it planned to use the Chapter 11 proceedings to seek outside buyers who could keep its business going and/or purchase assets such as the baby gear chain. In addition, Buybuy Baby has received interest from other suitors. Last week, for example, CNBC reported that online rival retailer Babylist expressed interest in buying Buybuy Baby’s digital assets.
