Bed Bath & Beyond reportedly in talks to sell Buybuy Baby

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Bankrupt retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is in talks to keep its Buybuy Baby chain open through a sale to retail investment firm Go Global Retail.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported June 5 that Go Global Retailer, the owner of children’s clothing label Janie and Jack, plans to make a bid to purchase the Union-based company’s baby-focused banner.

The news comes a few days after CNBC reported that Buybuy Baby has drawn interest from at least two bidders as Bed Bath & Beyond moves to auction off its assets and keep some form of its business alive.

According to CNBC, Babylist, a direct-to-consumer baby registry website, wants to purchase Buybuy Baby’s trademark and domain, while an unknown bidder is seeking to buy the banner as a going concern and keep about 75% of the stores open.

Although Bed Bath & Beyond’s namesake business faced weak sales and mounting losses despite a turnaround attempt, analysts believe Buybuy Baby has a better shot at survival after the bankruptcy.

As of now, there doesn’t appear to be any interest in buying Bed Bath & Beyond; however, The Wall Street Journal reported that Overstock.com may look to acquire the brand’s digital assets. Under that potential deal, the popular online retailer would shut all remaining Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

Following its April 23 bankruptcy filing, Bed Bath & Beyond launched liquidation sales across its 360 namesake stores and 120 Buybuy Baby locations nationwide.

At the time, the retailer said it expected to close all its stores by the end of June; however, it also planned to use Chapter 11 proceedings to search for outside buyers who could keep its 52-year-old company going or purchase assets.

The cash-strapped company already shed its Harmon FaceValues beauty chain and its Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Canada as part of a turnaround attempt earlier this year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bed Bath & Beyond’s auction was originally set for June 1 but has since been pushed back to June 16.