All of Bed Bath & Beyond’s Buy Buy Baby stores are shuttering as part of its bankruptcy liquidation.
Buy Buy Baby’s intellectual property assets were sold to Dream on Me Industries, which manufactures and sells baby products and furniture, to the tune of $15.5 million. A federal judge approved the sale this week, according to court documents. The approved deal, though, does not include the physical stores.
Bed Bath & Beyond debtors failed to secure a better offer for the retailer, which specializes in baby merchandise, and subsequently canceled an auction for the company’s assets, court documents stated.
In June, OverStock.com purchased Bed Bath & Beyond’s intellectual property assets for $21.5 million, months after the beleaguered retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That deal also didn’t include Bed Bath & Beyond or Buy Buy Baby stores.
Bed Bath & Beyond — once seen as a major player in the retail sector with its wide selection of kitchen and home supplies — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after years of sagging sales and failed turnaround plans.
However, some familiar tenants have already started taking advantage of the open Bed Bath & Beyond retail spaces.
For instance, Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, nabbed 44 locations, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court in New Jersey last month.
Burlington purchased the leases, the largest share of any retailer, for $12 million, according to the filing. The company secured six other leases outside the auction process, according to separate documents.
Michael’s — the privately held chain of arts and crafts stores — also purchased nine locations for about $2.55 million.
Furnisher company Havertys purchased four locations for nearly $470,000, and Barnes & Noble purchased one location in Concord, North Carolina, for about $130,000. An Aldi supermarket is taking over a spot in Little Rock, Arkansas.
