Bed Bath & Beyond has risen from the ashes and opened new stores across the country…except California.
Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis said politics did not cause the decision. Reality led to the decision:
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.The result? Higher taxes, higher fees, higher wages that many businesses simply cannot sustain, and endless regulations that strangle growth. Even when the state announces a budget surplus, it’s built on the backs of ordinary citizens who are paying too much and businesses who are squeezed until they break.
“At Bed Bath & Beyond, our responsibility is to our customers and our shareholders,” Lemonis added. “We will not participate in a system that undermines both.”
California customers can still buy online and receive 24-48 hour delivery. Lemonis said the system would give the customers a better price, not affected by California’s “unsustainable model.”
Bed Bath & Beyond went away in 2023:
Earlier this month, the first revamped Bed Bath & Beyond Home store opened in Nashville.It’s been a multi-year journey for the popular home goods brand that went defunct in 2023. After the chain went bankrupt, Overstock.com acquired the intellectual property, rebranded as Beyond, Inc. and relaunched the Bed Bath & Beyond domain online.Earlier this year, Beyond took an ownership stake in Kirkland’s Inc., a home decor chain with around 300 stores nationwide. Kirkland’s has since rebranded as The Brand House Collective and plans to roll out Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores by converting existing Kirkland’s stores.Depending on how things go in Nashville, the company plans to convert approximately 75 stores through 2026.
Bed Bath & Beyond literally cannot afford to take any chances in its infancy.
Many companies have already abandoned California: Charles Schwab, Chevron, HP Enterprise, Oracle, SpaceX, Tesla.
“We believe California has a number of policies that raise costs, that hurt consumers, that discourage investment and ultimately we think that’s not good for the economy in California and for consumers,” said Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats panicked over losing oil companies. They want to boost oil and gas production despite hating Big Oil.
In July 2024, Elon Musk announced he would move SpaceX and Tesla to Texas after California banned school districts from telling parents their child is transgender or using different pronouns.
Musk described the law as “the final straw.”
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