Bed Bath & Beyond speeds up cuts of 880 store jobs
Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg and James Freeman of The Wall Street Journal on whether the end is near for brick-and-mortar retailers.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) said this week it has sped up a plan to realign its store management structure, which will result in the elimination of about 880 store jobs.
The cuts will include department and assistant store manager positions.
“The actions taken today to accelerate the realignment of our store management will allow us to better support our customer-focused initiatives as well as support our omnichannel growth," said the company’s CEO Steven Temares in a press release on Thursday.
The company said no other job cuts are planned with this realignment.
"With the evolution in retail, we continue to strengthen our digital infrastructure and invest heavily in areas such as analytics, information technology, pricing, e-commerce, marketing, supply chain, and our contact centers," Temares said in a statement.
The Union, New Jersey-based company has felt the squeeze pressuring traditional retailers. During an earnings conference call with analysts in June, Temares left the door open to future store closures when discussing roughly 80 to 100 store leases that will be coming up for renewal in the near future.
“That’s a clear opportunity for us to say, ‘OK, over the next five years, what do we see happening?,’” he said at the time. “So if we had to predict, I’d say fewer stores.”
Shares of the retailer have fallen nearly 25% year to date.
The company is scheduled to report its fiscal 2017 second-quarter results after the close on Sept. 19, and will then provide an update on its full-year guidance.