How it started
Retail history
Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein worked in management positions at discount store chain Arlan's. As the company suffered financial difficulties, and the two believed that the market would shift toward specialty stores, they decided to leave and form their own company. In 1971, they opened a store in Springfield, New Jersey, called Bed 'n Bath. By 1985, Eisenberg and Feinstein were operating 18 stores in the New York metropolitan area and California. Also in 1985, the first superstore was opened, as an attempt to remain competitive with Linens 'n Things, Pacific Linen, and Luxury Linens. In order to properly represent the size increase in its retail stores, the company changed its name to Bed Bath & Beyond in 1987.
Growth and acquisitions
By 1991, Bed Bath & Beyond had opened seven new superstores in New Jersey, California, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, and Florida. The following June, the company made its IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company adopted integrated computer-based inventory management systems in 1993 to better compete with Linens ‘n Things, which had utilized computer inventory management since the late 1980s. The chain's 100th store opened in Irvine, California, in October 1996; the 200th, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, followed less than three years later in August 1999. That year, Bed Bath & Beyond reached $1 billion in sales for the first time.
In 2002, Bed Bath & Beyond acquired Harmon Discount Health & Beauty, later renamed Harmon Face Values. Five years later in 2007, Bed Bath and Beyond acquired Buy Buy Baby, a chain of baby supply stores founded by Feinstein's sons, and began international expansion, opening their first Canadian store in Richmond Hill, Ontario. By 2011, Bed Bath & Beyond had 1,142 stores. In 2012, Bed Bath and Beyond acquired Cost Plus World Market for $495 million.
In 2016, Bed Bath and Beyond acquired One Kings Lane, a luxury furniture e-commerce retailer; the following year, Bed Bath and Beyond acquired Decorist, an online interior design platform.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3