Bed Bath & Beyond to close 9 Florida stores, including 3 in metro Orlando

Bed Bath & Beyond identified this week the 150 stores it is closing as part of a restructuring plan it announced in 2022, including nine in Florida, with three of those in metro Orlando.

The local stores to close are at 5295 International Drive in Orlando, 1115 Vidina Place in Oviedo, and 111 Towne Center Blvd. in Sanford, according to a list of upcoming closures on the New Jersey-based home goods retailer's website. Other Florida stores set to shutter are in Brooksville, Homestead, Pompano Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Sebring and Sunrise. It was not immediately clear how many jobs would be affected.

After a brutal third quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY), which owns other brands such as Buybuy Baby and Harmon Face Values, faces a tough road and indicated last week that filing for bankruptcy may be on the table.

The company said net sales for its fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 26 are expected to be approximately $1.26 billion compared to $1.88 billion in the year ago period, a 33% drop. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, also dropped 32%, according to AP news.

On Tuesday, the company announced it would slash an additional $80 million to $100 million across the company, including an unspecified number of layoffs.

Still, shares in the company surged in Wednesday trading as much as 67% in a phenomenon observers are comparing to "meme stocks" like AMC Entertainment and GameStop.

This isn't the first time the company has closed stores and cut staff. The Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) location at 5803 South U.S. Highway 17/92  in Casselberry closed in 2020. It also permanently closed its customer service center at West Oaks Mall in Ocoee that same year.

The retailer currently operates eight other locations in the greater Orlando area, down from 15 in 2019. According to its website, the existing Central Florida stores are in Waterford Lakes Town Center in Orlando, on East Colonial Drive in Orlando, Apopka, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Lady Lake, Melbourne and Daytona Beach.

Staff Reporter Alex Zorn with the Chicago Business Journal contributed to this article.

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