Dive Brief:
- Glen Cary has been named chief of stores for the Bed Bath & Beyond family of brands — which includes Kirkland’s Home, as well as Bed Bath & Beyond, BuyBuy Baby and Overstock — according to a Friday press release.
- Cary’s experience includes over a decade at Bed Bath & Beyond, where he previously served as chief of stores for the namesake brand as well as president of BuyBuy Baby, the announcement said. The executive’s LinkedIn account also states he served as chief of stores for BuyBuy Baby from August of 2023 until April of this year, though Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. did not immediately respond to inquiries about this.
- In this renewed role, Cary will “leverage his experience of driving retail sales, establishing operational excellence, real estate strategy, store transformations and delivering consistent profitability,” per the release.
Dive Insight:
Cary might be coming home, as he described it in a statement, but the company he returns to is structurally different than it once was.
“Glen is in lock step with the expectations we are setting for Bed Bath & Beyond and understands how operating great stores requires the highest standard of experience for both the employee and the customer,” Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond, said in a statement. “His experience will drive a capital efficient modernization of our fleet, strengthen operational discipline, and support all phases of growth across stores, digital, and franchise together.”
Under Lemonis, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has gone through a couple of iterations of a rebrand, ventured into blockchain investing and restarted its physical retail efforts through a complex partnership with retailer Kirkland’s, which is now The Brand House Collective. The company has also built out its portfolio over the past couple of years through a series of acquisitions.
In November, Bed Bath & Beyond and The Brand House Collective announced a merger agreement, implying an equity value of approximately $26.8 million, which includes plans to close about 40 stores. The deal is set to be finalized in early 2026.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. — previously Beyond Inc. — entered into an agreement to acquire BuyBuy Baby in February for $5 million, with Lemonis hinting at a brick-and-mortar return for the baby brand.
BuyBuy Baby was acquired by the old Bed Bath & Beyond company in 2007 for $67 million and $19 million in debt repayment. However, Dream on Me bought the brand’s intellectual property and 11 store leases for a total of $16.7 million in 2023 after Bed Bath & Beyond’s Chapter 11 filing. Less than a year after its store relaunch under Dream on Me, BuyBuy Baby closed all of its stores and announced a shift to operating as a digital-only brand.
Once again a part of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., BuyBuy Baby relaunched online earlier this year, and a physical retail revival is planned, adding to the Bed Bath & Beyond Home store footprint that started up this year.
Online retailer Overstock is the one that started this new iteration of the company after it acquired Bed Bath & Beyond’s assets in mid-2023. Marcus Lemonis became executive chairman at Beyond in 2024, and his leadership role was further expanded in March of this year. Once the merger with The Brand House Collective closes, that company’s CEO, Amy Sullivan, will become CEO of a newly organized “Beyond Retail Group” division and oversee all omnichannel operations.