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"Too Expensive And Risky": Bed Bath & Beyond Explains Why It Won’t Operate Stores In "Overregulated" California
Epoch Times ^ | 08/21/2025 | Jill McLaughlin

Posted on 08/21/2025 10:03:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The chairman of the resurrected home goods chain Bed Bath & Beyond announced on Aug. 20 that the company would not open or operate retail stores in California, calling it overregulated, expensive, and risky.

“This decision isn’t about politics—it’s about reality,” company head Marcus Lemonis said in a social media post.

“California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America. It’s a system that makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open, and harder to deliver value to customers.”

Lemonis—the executive chairman of Beyond, Inc., which owns Bed Bath & Beyond—claimed that the state’s regulations result in higher taxes, fees, and wages that many businesses can’t sustain. The regulations strangle growth, he said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not express concern about the retailer’s announcement in a response following the company’s announcement.

“After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath & Beyond no longer existed,” Newsom’s spokesperson, Tara Gallegos, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a 2nd [sic] store.”

Bed Bath & Beyond, founded in 1971, expanded to become a U.S. retail icon of home goods, experiencing significant growth.

In 2023, the company filed for bankruptcy, closing hundreds of stores after years of dismal sales and several attempts to turn the struggling business around. The company was purchased by online retailer Overstock.com and transitioned to an online-only presence.

Bed Bath & Beyond closed all 41 of its California stores, along with all other U.S. locations, in July 2023.

The retailer’s parent company, The Brand House Collective, announced a grand opening of its first Bed Bath & Beyond Home store in Nashville set for Aug. 8. The company’s shareholders approved the move in July.

“We’re proud to reintroduce one of retail’s most iconic names with the launch of Bed Bath & Beyond Home, beautifully reimagined for how families gather at home today,” Amy Sullivan, CEO of The Brand House Collective, said in a statement on July 28.

“This isn’t just a store, it’s a fresh start for a brand that means something special to so many families.”

The store also brought back its popular Beth Bath & Beyond coupons as it celebrated the grand opening.

Bed Bath & Beyond is investing in an alternative California strategy, according to Lemonis.

The company will offer 24 hour to 48 hour delivery to customers, and in many cases will deliver on the same day of purchase.

A Bed Bath & Beyond store in Los Angeles on April 10, 2013. The company closed its 41 California outlets in 2023. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Californians can continue to get products directly through the company’s website “on our terms, and with their best interest at heart,” but without the extra costs imposed by California’s taxes and regulations, according to Lemonis.

“We’re taking a stand because it’s time for common sense,” he said.

“Businesses deserve the chance to succeed. Employees deserve jobs that last. And customers deserve fair prices. California’s system delivers the opposite.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: bbb; bedbathandbeyond; california; gavinnewsom; gavinnewsome; karenbass; kroger; losangeles; marcuslemonis

1 posted on 08/21/2025 10:03:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Counting on looting to move merchandise is a bad business model.


2 posted on 08/21/2025 10:06:27 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Math is hard. For Democrats.


3 posted on 08/21/2025 10:06:53 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....TRUMP IS RIGHT AGAIN.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I thought all their stores were closed


4 posted on 08/21/2025 10:16:14 AM PDT by madison10 (There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Are they bringing back “My Pillow” ?


5 posted on 08/21/2025 10:19:33 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: madison10

I thought all their stores were closed

I did too. They’re gone here in Illinois. Maybe for same reasons.


6 posted on 08/21/2025 11:01:18 AM PDT by TiGuy22
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To: SeekAndFind

Just like Newsome to mock businesses. They say CA is the 5th largest economy, but for how much longer. Soon, they won’t have the electricity, gas, or gasolene to power a modern economy.


7 posted on 08/21/2025 11:22:52 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: MtnClimber

Indeed count on looting the illegals in East LA they have non permit swap shops and many other shops by the thousands.

The city thinks it’s okay they just making their lives better.

LA didn’t become a s**t hole by accident.


8 posted on 08/21/2025 12:42:12 PM PDT by Vaduz
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To: SeekAndFind

Snarky reply from Newsome’s office


9 posted on 08/21/2025 12:45:47 PM PDT by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Any business other than government operating in CA is just asking to be robbed.


10 posted on 08/21/2025 2:40:12 PM PDT by gildafarrell (e)
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To: SeekAndFind

I remember when Marcus Aurelius Lemonis was a cheerleader for Hillary


11 posted on 08/21/2025 8:55:23 PM PDT by RitchieAprile (available monkeys looking for the change..)
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To: SeekAndFind

Over 40% of small business’s were closed permanently in Los Angeles and San Francisco when democrats forced “non essential” business to shutdown during the covid scam while keeping Gov Newsom’s wine business open plus he took in millions in PPP loans which were forgiven and hollywood productions kept filming right next to small business forced to close.

The city centers were devastated as those and other business’s left for other states and you have empty streets except for the homeless camping on the sidewalk. All you get from Newsom is snarky replies.

BTW Newsom has a NGO that got a cut of the $100 million + Fireaid money, none of the money went to the victims of the Los Angeles brush fires. NONE! but he got his cut.


12 posted on 08/22/2025 6:41:17 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Making money now. Still want much more.)
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To: 1Old Pro

I stopped going to BB&B the instant they gave Mike Lindell a hard time. I have zero tolerance for wokeness.


13 posted on 08/24/2025 7:35:14 AM PDT by The Duke (Not without incident.)
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