Is Bed Bath & Beyond Going To Have Stores Again?
An Unaffiliated Company With The Same Name Operates 57 Stores in New Zealand
On its Q4 2023 earnings call last week, Beyond Inc. Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis commented that many people ask him:
"Is Bed Bath & Beyond going to have stores again?"
While Lemonis indicated that there are no immediate plans to open stores, he certainly did not rule it out in the future.
He also noted that Beyond Inc. - which acquired the Bed Bath & Beyond brand and intellectual property last Summer - regularly receives interest from groups that want to license the brand to operate stores in international markets, similar to an arrangement the Company already has in Mexico.
Lemonis even brought up that Beyond Inc. executives are off to the Middle East this week to explore recent inbound interest from Dubai and the UAE.
However, one country where the Bed Bath & Beyond brand already thrives is also a locale where a licensing arrangement may not be practical or even possible:
New Zealand.
Because there already is a Bed Bath & Beyond in New Zealand.
That would be Bed Bath & Beyond Ltd NZ which has 57 stores in New Zealand - and has been operating in the country since 1995.
Bed Bath & Beyond NZ was originally named Linen for Less but re-branded as Bed Bath & Beyond (which had not been trademarked in New Zealand) decades ago in part to benefit from the marketing of the unaffiliated U.S. company.
Leveraging the brand equity of U.S. retailers has actually been a common strategy for companies in Australia and New Zealand where retailers including Woolworth, Kmart and Toys R Us still thrive despite the failure of their U.S. counterparts.
Even though the U.S. Bed Bath & Beyond and it New Zealand counterpart share a brand name, there have been differences between the two companies.
Bed Bath & Beyond NZ has always operated smaller stores (as compared to the U.S. chain’s previous Big Box sites) and it primarily sells sheets, towels and pillows as compared to the U.S. chain's previous focus on kitchen appliances and housewares.
And Bed Bath & Beyond NZ's lower case, green and white color scheme also was a sharp contrast to the bold, blue logo that had been used by the U.S. company.
But now that the U.S. Bed Bath & Beyond brand has been reborn under the new Beyond Inc. corporate leadership, there may be positive spillover effects for Bed Bath & Beyond NZ.
Which may be of benefit to the New Zealand company since it recently lost its own trademark battle against a competing Australian chain - Bed Bath N’ Table - that had entered the New Zealand market.
Bed Bath & Beyond NZ had accused Bed Bath 'N' Table of infringing on its trademarks and intellectual property and creating confusion amongst its customers, as the two chains not only are closely linked in their names but also sell many of the same products and even sport similar green color and font in their branding and logos.
But last July the New Zealand High Court threw out Bed Bath NZ's claims of trademark violations against Bed Bath 'N' Table.
The court noted the concurrent use of the two marks was unlikely to cause substantial confusion in New Zealand.
A decision that may be of interest to Beyond Inc. corporate leaders should they ever consider or pursue future international licensing opportunities of the brand in New Zealand.