New York — Bed Bath & Beyond announced on Tuesday it will be closing another 150 stores, including seven in Michigan, as the beleaguered home goods chain cuts costs as it works to stay afloat.
The announcement came after the Union, N.J.-based company said it had raised about $1 billion through offerings of preferred stock and warrants to purchase the company’s common stock, The Associated Press reported. The funds will be used to pay off its debt, company officials said.
The company’s stock, which rose 92% on Monday, fell 47% on Tuesday, ending the day at $3.01, down 82% over the past year, according to the AP.The company said last month it may need to file for bankruptcy. A few weeks later, it said it was in default on its loans and didn’t have sufficient funds to repay what it owes.
The latest store closures come as the chain has been reducing its footprint dramatically over the past year. According to a regulatory filing, the AP reported, it will have shuttered more than 400 stores, nearly half of its fleet.
That includes the remaining 50 standalone Harmon Face Value Stores, which sells beauty and household products. The company said it anticipates keeping 360 of its namesake stores in addition to 120 BuyBuy Baby stores. According to the AP, Bed Bath & Beyond also said in the filing that it expects sales at stores opened at least a year to be down anywhere from 30% to 40% during its first fiscal quarter, with “sequential quarterly improvement after that.”
