Bed Bath & Beyond to close more stores, including Conway location

Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond continues to rightsize its store count with plans to shutter 200 locations by 2022. The first 43 liquidations are ongoing and include the store at 1272 South Amity Road in Conway, with operations to wind down by the end of February.

The company announced the store reductions in July with plans to trim its real estate portfolio and focus on remodeling the more profitable stores with investments in digital capabilities. The store reduction is expected to generate annual cost savings of between $250 million and $350 million, including one-time expenses. The corporate restructure also aims to move 15% to 20% of store sales online.

The company plans to keep around 1,400 stores open including Buybuy Baby. The retailer operates five Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Arkansas – Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Little Rock, North Little Rock and Rogers – that are not impacted from this round of closures.

Bed Bath & Beyond posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Sales fell 5% to $2.6 billion in the three months ended Nov. 30, a slight miss from Wall Street’s consensus of $2.75 billion. Comparable store sales rose 2%, thanks in part to strong growth in digital.

CEO Mark Tritton said the retailer is seeing share gains in key categories like “bed” over the past two months. The retailer did not provide any guidance for the current fiscal quarter but noted 2021 earnings should be in the range of $500 million to $525 million.