California Governor Gavin Newsom has hit back at Bed Bath & Beyond after the retailer announced it will not reopen any stores in the Golden State – two years after its bankruptcy forced the closure of every location nationwide.
The feud erupted on Wednesday after Marcus Lemonis, Executive Chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond, confirmed that the home goods chain would exclude California from its new brick-and-mortar strategy.
“This decision isn’t about politics — it’s about reality,” Lemonis said in a statement, blaming what he called California’s “overregulated, expensive, and risky environment” for the snub. He pointed to higher taxes, higher fees and higher wages as making it “harder to employ people” and “keep doors open.”
The company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 2023 and closed all 360 of its U.S. stores, is now attempting a comeback under the Bed Bath & Beyond Home brand, in partnership with The Brand House Collective. Its first new store opened in Nashville on August 8.
But California, Lemonis stressed, will not be part of the plan. Instead, the chain will focus on online orders with 24 to 48-hour delivery and same-day service in the state.
Newsom’s office wasted no time in responding on X (formerly Twitter).
“After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath & Beyond no longer existed,” the governor’s press office wrote. “We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a 2nd store.”
The governor himself chimed in from his personal account, posting a withering jab:
“The company that already went bankrupt and closed every store across the country two years ago? Ok.”
Lemonis replied in an attempt to defuse the row, insisting he respected Newsom and claiming he had a plan that included “pro-business reforms” for the state. “You are a smart man, and I know the post below is out of frustration,” he said.
Newsom has not yet responded.
The retailer’s woes began years before its collapse. In 2020, Bed Bath & Beyond shuttered 40 stores. By 2022, it announced another 150 closures and laid off 20 per cent of its workforce.
Despite receiving more than $500 million in financing, sales plummeted by 26 per cent, and its stock nosedived. Another 87 stores closed in early 2023, just before the bankruptcy filing.
In a $21.5 million deal, Overstock.com scooped up Bed Bath & Beyond’s name, website and digital assets. The e-commerce firm rebranded its own website as BedBathandBeyond.com, offering the brand’s signature assortment of bedding, kitchenware and furniture.
Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson said at the time: “Bed Bath & Beyond is a much-loved and well-known consumer brand, which had an outdated business model that needed modernising.”
Now, under its new partnership, the company is trying to stage a retail revival — but California shoppers won’t be browsing the aisles anytime soon.
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