Relaunch Set for Bed, Bath & Beyond Stores

Kirkland’s Inc. (Nashville) plans to accelerate the relaunch of Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores through full-market conversions of existing Kirkland’s Home stores. The first such store is slated to open in August in Brentwood, Tenn., with five more to follow in the market.

“The Greater Nashville area was selected as our launch market given our headquarters presence, allowing us to closely manage every detail and set the standard for future rollouts,” the company said in a news release. “Pending the results of the initial market we plan to convert approximately 75 stores through 2026.”

The plans for the BB&BH relaunch were included in a release from Kirkland’s about several strategic changes and initiatives it plans, including changing its corporate name to The Brand House Collective Inc. That move is designed to reflect its transformation into a multi-brand merchandising, supply chain and retail operator leading the brick-and-mortar vision and strategy for Beyond Inc.’s Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and buybuy Baby chains, the company statement said.

“From the moment our partnership with Beyond began [earlier this year] it was clear that our model needed to evolve,” said Kirkland’s CEO Amy Sullivan. “The Brand House Collective is more than a new name – it’s a bold declaration of where we’re headed. We’re aligning our identity with our vision to become a multi-brand merchandising, supply chain and retail operator – and backing it with decisive actions to strengthen our foundation: reducing excess inventory, closing underperforming locations, optimizing real estate assets and enhancing talent across the organization.”

The name change is subject to a shareholder vote whose results will be made public at Kirkland’s annual meeting on July 24.
As part of the transformation effort described by Sullivan, the company said it plans to close about two dozen underperforming stores, leaving it with roughly 290 Kirkland’s stores.

As for Overstock, “We also see tremendous opportunity to bring that brand to life in physical retail and have identified the first Nashville location with plans to expand to approximately 30 locations after the initial pilot,” the statement said. The release made no mention of stores planned for the buybuy Baby brand that Beyond Inc. also controls, but published reports indicate it could be coming back in physical form, also in the Nashville market.

The company also said it was executing a corporate reorganization designed to drive performance, enhance accountability and align its talent with brand specific growth priorities. As result, the company said it has brought three new executives on board from Target (two hires) and Abercrombie & Fitch (one hire), while five other existing ones have exited. For more details on those changes, see the name-change news release; click here for Kirkland’s first quarter results, which were disclosed in a separate release that came out at the same time as the branding update.