What’s 20% off of nothing? Thankfully, that calculation no longer applies.
Two years ago, the big blue coupons from Bed Bath & Beyond went from junk-drawer staples to museum pieces, as the retailer declared bankruptcy, liquidated all of its stores, and its once-valuable 20% off coupons became worthless.
Hope you hung onto some of them, though – because they’re about to become valuable again.
Plans have just been announced to open the first of several anticipated new-and-improved Bed Bath & Beyond stores, under new ownership. And those new owners will accept the old, expired Bed Bath & Beyond coupons you haven’t been able to bring yourself to toss out.
After the retailer went out of business in 2023, Bed Bath & Beyond never really died. Overstock bought the rights to its name and revived it as an online-only storefront. A year later, the owner of Kirkland’s home decor stores struck a licensing deal with the new owners, to use the Bed Bath & Beyond name on physical stores.
And now, the first of those stores is set to open next week. On August 8th, the first “Bed Bath & Beyond Home” store will open in Nashville. And more will soon follow, as dozens of former Kirkland’s locations will be converted to Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores as well in the coming weeks and months.
And don’t forget those coupons.
“In honoring our brand’s history, we’re bringing back one of its most iconic traditions, the beloved Bed Bath & Beyond coupon,” Kirkland’s owner The Brand House Collective said in announcing the Nashville store’s opening date. “We encourage guests to bring in their legacy Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, which we will gladly honor.”
If you don’t want to part with your museum piece, “a fresh version will be waiting at the door.”
Mention Bed Bath & Beyond to the average American, and they’re more likely to remember the coupon than the store itself. “The big, blue coupon was our brand,” a former company executive once told the New York Times.
But eventually, the coupon couldn’t mask the fact that Bed Bath & Beyond itself had reached its expiration date. When filing for the bankruptcy that ultimately shut them down for good, company executives hailed their stewardship of “what has been heralded as one of the greatest retail coupons of all time.”
Overstock revived the coupon when it revived the company name online, but a virtual version just wasn’t the same as getting that oversized postcard delivered to your mailbox, or finding one you had forgotten about in your glove compartment, or just showing up to the store without one and having a helpful cashier pull one out for you anyway.
So a return of the physical coupon to physical stores is a welcome back-to-the-future moment for those who never gave up hope and never parted with their 20% off coupons.
The Brand House Collective is taking a store-by-store approach, to determine which Kirkland’s locations would be more appealing to local shoppers with the Bed Bath & Beyond name out front instead.
“We’re proud to reintroduce one of retail’s most iconic names with the launch of Bed Bath & Beyond Home, beautifully reimagined for how families gather at home today,” Brand House Collective CEO Amy Sullivan said in a statement. “This isn’t just a store, it’s a fresh start for a brand that means something special to so many families.”
Saving 20% on everything in the store meant something special to a lot of families, too. So if you have a Kirkland’s store near you, keep an eye on the name out front to see if it changes – and then keep an eye on your mailbox, to make sure you’ll never have to pay full price.
