It appears as though Bed Bath & Beyond will close all 54 stores in Canada, including the outlet in Columbia Square shopping centre in Sahali.
The pending closures are referenced in Feb. 10 court filings in Ontario,
According to the Canadian Press, Bed Bath & Beyond Canada Ltd. was granted an initial order for creditor protection by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, according to the company acting as the court-appointed monitor for the case.
The chain’s pending closure follows similar large-scale company shutdowns in Canada, including Sears in late 2017 and Target in early 2015, both of which had anchor stores in Kamloops malls.
Bed Bath & Beyond Canada is insolvent and cannot restructure its operations without support from its American parent company, court documents posted to Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc.’s website show.
Bed Bath & Beyond Canada has begun the creditor protection proceedings to allow for a timely wind-down of the business and liquidation of inventory, according to the documents dated Feb. 10.
There has been no word on when the stores will be shuttered.
“The Bed Bath & Beyond Group has been in financial difficulty for the past several years, suffering significant net losses since 2018,” the documents state, describing “dramatic declines in revenues” that “significantly worsened” in 2022.
Suppliers have tightened or refused credit and some have refused to ship merchandise, the documents indicate.
U.S. parent company Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has closed numerous stores across America and warned last month that it may need to file for bankruptcy protection as it was unable to repay its loans.
It recently raised about $1 billion through offerings of preferred stock and warrants, which it said will be used to pay off debt.
However, “faced with extremely limited funding and significant constraints upon its use of cash, the Bed Bath & Beyond Group has reluctantly concluded that there is not enough capital available … to restructure both its business in the United States and properly resuscitate the Canadian business to achieve profitability,” the court documents stated, noting the Canadian stores are “not profitable on a standalone basis.”
As a result, the company is “required to wind down its business in Canada” and intends to “effect an orderly liquidation of its remaining inventory with assistance from a third-party professional liquidator and vacate its leased retail stores and premises,” according to the documents.
As of Nov. 26, Bed Bath & Beyond Canada’s assets were valued at about $480.1 million, the documents show, while its total liabilities were about $429.7 million.
As of Jan. 31, the company employed 387 full-time employees and 1,038 part-time workers across Canada, according to the filing.
