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Bed Bath & Beyond website to return in Canada after bankruptcy

The Canadian operations of Bed Bath & Beyond were draining too much cash: Analyst Seth Basham, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the closure of Bed Bath and Beyond stores in Canada. He says it's going to be an uphill battle for the company to avoid bankruptcy in the U.S.

American online furniture retailer Overstock has purchased the digital rights to Bed Bath & Beyond, with the goal of bringing the beleaguered store’s website back up and running in Canada.

The Salt Lake City, Utah-based retailer announced Wednesday it purchased Bed Bath & Beyond’s “website and domain names, trademarks, tradenames, patents, customer database, loyalty program data and other brand assets” for $21.5 million, with the goal of re-launching its website in Canada next week with the U.S. version to follow.

“This acquisition is a significant and transformative step for us,” Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson said in a news release. “Bed Bath & Beyond is an iconic consumer brand, well-known in the home retail marketplace.”

Physical stores are not on the way back, however, as the deal does not include the brick-and-mortar locations or previous leases.

Bed Bath & Beyond began winding down its operations in Canada back in February after posting a $99.5 million net loss and documents showed its U.S. parent company could no longer support the losses.

Analysts have called its closure among the biggest failures in Canadian retail.