Business

Bed Bath & Beyond Shoppers Rush to Use All Those Coupons

For many shoppers, Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy filing on Sunday was a call to action.

Both loyal and lapsed customers received an email around 8 a.m. from the home goods retailer telling them the company had decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.360 Beds Bath & Beyond The store and 120 Buy By Baby stores will be closing soon.

Shoppers can use the coupon until Wednesday. Across the country, he collected blue scraps of 20% off, packed them in pouches and plastic bags, and headed to the nearest bed to his Bath & Beyond.

At a store in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood on Monday, Sylvia Ward, a self-professed Bronx native and Bed Bath & Beyond enthusiast, said the news of the store’s closure “absolutely devastated” her. I knew I only had a few days to do it.

“I have to escape here today!” she said.

Ward brought about seven coupons that could be used on items such as two Simplehuman soap dispensers, a kitchen timer, and about 14 packs of Clorox wipes, and estimated that he had saved $30.

Opened in 1971, Bed Bath & Beyond had its own cultural prestige among big box retailers.Served as a recurring storyline for Comedy Central “Broad City”a plot device in Adam Sandler’s 2006 film Click.celebrities are their Relevance on a late night show. A Facebook group was formed for people to exchange retailer coupons.

Over the decades, these coupons have reliably appeared in millions of mailboxes and, more recently, in email inboxes, selling household items such as kitchen utensils, fluffy pillows and wooden hangers. We offer discounts. People used to give them as gifts to new homeowners and college students, keeping them in kitchen junk drawers and car closets. At least one of her customers wrote her phone number on the back of the coupon and handed it to fellow patrons she found attractive, using the coupon as her calling card.

Chelsea’s Bed Bath & Beyond store had a steady stream of customers on Sunday. People were walking around looking at the towel heaters and big pillows. There was also time to ask how they felt.

Bobby Kimberly was one of those customers. The news of the chain’s bankruptcy was her motivation to finally use the coupons she was holding and to have another look at the store before it closed.

“It’s like losing a friend because it’s something you can trust,” said Kimberly, a yoga instructor.

After hearing about the bankruptcy, loyal Bed Bath & Beyond customers took to social media. The company’s name has become a trending topic on Twitter. People shared their tributes to the retailer, posted TikTok videos of him walking into the store, and notified friends and family of the chain’s closure through his Facebook status. A Reddit thread about Bed Bath & Beyond, which became a “memestock” favorite during the pandemic, was lit up with chatter about its downfall.

Some shoppers passed unused coupons in stores to other customers, texting friends and family to encourage them to use the coupons before it was too late.

It was too late for Bed Bath & Beyond’s endorsements to flood in. Despite an early boost in the pandemic, sales soon began to plummet as quarantined Americans bought items to spruce up their homes. Operating costs were rising, vendors were nervous about being paid on time, and they held back on shipping inventory.

In recent months, shoppers at Bed Bath & Beyond stores have come across sparsely stocked shelves. The chain had cut hundreds of jobs and closed stores to survive. “The past 12 months have been arguably the most difficult and turbulent time in Bed Bath & Beyond’s storied history,” the company said in its bankruptcy filing.

Jean Massaro was at Yonkers’ Bed Bath & Beyond store Monday morning with a coupon. She said she had never shopped online and had ignored discounts the retailer had emailed her, prioritizing the specifics she had, collected from People magazine. There are also things.

“I really, really love this store,” said Massaro. “I am upset and so are many others.”

But it’s been a few years since Bed Bath & Beyond hit its peak. In 2020, it said it would withdraw from sending coupons to shoppers after investors questioned it hurting the company’s profits. It seemed like one of those growing lists of ways to take away the things you love most about your shopping experience.

“I used to come here a lot,” said David Salidor, who stopped by the Manhattan location on Monday with a coupon. “That’s because they have items that many stores don’t have.”

He added: But it’s strange times, strange times. “

Some store-goers on Monday were disappointed that they didn’t see any eye-popping sales. After Bed Bath & Beyond stopped accepting coupons. The company said it expects customers to be able to use gift cards until May 8.

For shoppers with baby and marriage registrations, the company said it uses a different platform to transfer data. He said he would likely go to the store to fill the hole.

Thea Derecola, a Chelsea hairstylist and educator, brought a pouch of coupons into the store and used them to buy two pillows at 20% off. Without the coupon, the pillow would have been cheaper on Amazon, she said.

Derecola said her doorman kept a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon for her.

Daniel Duque, a retired Brooklyn Heights teacher, said he hopes this isn’t the end for Bed Bath & Beyond, which plans to close all locations by June 30.

“I’m still waiting for a miracle,” he said. For years he shopped at the store, but he stopped going so much after he moved to Brooklyn.

It’s common to feel nostalgic when a retailer goes out of business. This is similar to the reaction of shoppers when Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy, said Joanie Demar, co-founder of Crazy Coupon Lady, his online community that shares discount tips and deals. increase.

“Altruism for the brand suddenly appeared,” DeMar said. “OK, but you didn’t shop there. You shopped on Amazon like we did.”

Chelsea Gordon, an Atlanta entrepreneur who owns Cooking Code, didn’t find out about Bed, Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy until Sunday night. I spent the day preparing food.

She is a frequent shopper. Last year, she used her Bed Bath & Beyond on her household register at her home and her Buy Buy Baby to register her baby gifts.

When Gordon learned that the coupon was only valid for a few days, he made plans to head to a nearby store on Monday morning right after his Pilates class. She also texted her frequently about coupons for Bed Bath & Beyond, so she said she wanted to make sure her mother heard the news.

“Coupons are one less thing to talk about,” Gordon sighed.

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