Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. Bed Bath & Beyond operates stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico.^[3]

Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is currently part of the S&P 500 and Global 1200 Indices. It is also counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000.^[4][5]

In 1971, Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein opened a store in Springfield, New Jersey called Bed 'n Bath. By 1985, Eisenberg and Feinstein were operating 17 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. 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.^[6]

The company went public in June 1992, making its IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange, where its stock continues to trade under ticker symbol BBBY.^[7] Bed Bath & Beyond first reached $1 billion in annual sales in 1999.^[6]

In March 2019, three activist investment firms -- Legion Partners, Marcellum Advisors, and Ancora Advisors — announced their intent to remove current CEO Steven Temares and restructure Bed Bath & Beyond’s current board of directors.^[8] The activist investors highlighted several instances of perceived nepotism, including the acquisition of Buybuy Baby, which was founded by two of Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein’s children, and the acquisition of Chef Central, which was created by co-founder Warren Eisenberg’s son, as examples of poor business practices at Bed Bath & Beyond.^[9] This pressure led five independent directors to step down on April 22, 2019, and also resulted in the company restructuring its board to include only 10 directors instead of the previous 12 members.^[10]

On April 13, 2019 there was a report that the chain will close 40 stores but open 15 new locations.^[3]

On May 13, 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that CEO Steven Temares would be stepping down “effectively immediately” and would also resign his seat on the board of directors. Mary Winston, who was recently appointed to the company’s board as a result of the activist investment firms’ efforts, will replace Temares as interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found.^[11][12]

The company, which has for decades used coupon mailers and other promotional discounting tactics to attract consumers, also announced in April that it would reduce its use of promotional coupons and tighten restrictions on their use. To combat declining profitability, Bed Bath & Beyond is also creating private-label brands and opening “lab stores” that focus on home decor, food and drink, and health and beauty products.^[13]

Bed Bath & Beyond currently operates approximately 1,530 stores in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada. In addition to more than 1,020 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the company also operates  approximately 280 Cost Plus World Markets, 100 Buybuy Baby stores, roughly 80 Christmas Tree Shops (and related brands), and more than 50 Harmon stores.^[14]

Since the liquidation of Linens N Things in 2008, Bed Bath and Beyond has several major retail competitors, including Walmart, Target, and JCPenney, as well as several mid-sized competitors like Pier 1 Imports. Companies such as Crate & Barrel, IKEA, and the numerous Williams-Sonoma companies like Pottery Barn and West Elm are competitors as well.

There is a New Zealand chain with the name "Bed Bath & Beyond", which has no corporate connection with the American company.^[26] This chain was founded in 1995 as Linen for Less and is a bedding/linens specialist.