Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy, will wind down operations

Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, which has closed swaths of stores in recent months, filed for bankruptcy and will wind down its operations, the company announced late Saturday.

The bankruptcy filing comes after the company failed to find additional funding and reported disappointing revenue data to investors over the last few months. The company estimated assets and liabilities of approximately $1 billion and $10 billion in the filings.

“We deeply appreciate our associates, customers, partners, and the communities we serve, and we remain steadfastly determined to serve them throughout this process,” company President and CEO Sue Gove said in a statement. “We will continue working diligently to maximize value for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

The company said its remaining 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and 120 Buy Buy Baby stores would stay open as it goes through the bankruptcy process and said it intends to continue to pay employee wages and benefits and obligations to vendors.

The company had moved to shutter stores at an aggressive rate over the last year. In February, it announced plans to close 150 locations. One week earlier, it said it was closing 87 stores. 

The company warned investors in January that the bankruptcy filing could be coming. In a report that showed sales for the third quarter were a third lower than the year before, the company said there was “substantial doubt” that it could continue.

The company, which was founded in 1971, first opened in New Jersey.

–Updated at 1:30 p.m.