Buybuy Baby was launched in 1996 by the sons of Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein. - BED BATH & BEYOND
Buybuy Baby was launched in 1996 by the sons of Bed Bath & Beyond co-founder Leonard Feinstein. - BED BATH & BEYOND
Kimberly Redmond//August 21, 2023//
While Bed Bath & Beyond‘s brick-and-mortar stores are now closed, the doors of the bankrupt Union-based company’s subsidiaries, Buybuy Baby and Harmon, are about to reopen.
After acquiring the intellectual property rights of Bed Bath & Beyond’s baby-focused banner for $15.5 million, Piscataway-based baby goods retailer Dream On Me Inc. reportedly plans to launch 100 to 120 stores over the next three years, starting with 11 locations as soon as this fall.
Those stores – which the retailer acquired for $1.17 million during a court-run auction last month – include four sites in New Jersey: Bridgewater, Cherry Hill, Paramus and Woodbridge. The other sites are in New York, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
It is not clear which stores would return first; however, when shoppers step into the new Buybuy Baby, they can expect a new format, national brands and more of a focus on experiential retail, including registry events, interactive displays and areas to try out big-ticket items, such as strollers, before buying, Dream On Me Chief Marketing Officer Avish Dahiya told CNBC.
Buybuy Baby will be operated independently from Dream On Me and led by Glen Cary, a former Bed Bath & Beyond executive, according to Dahiya, a member of the team overseeing the transition.

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Additionally, about 80% of the staff – including the marketing, tech and merchant teams – previously worked at Buybuy Baby, Dahiya said.
Founded by Mark Serure in 1987, Dream on Me has become one of the most trusted baby care brands in the U.S., selling cribs, strollers, mattresses and nursery furniture through several retail partners, such as Target and Amazon, as well as Buybuy Baby.
Moving forward, Dream On Me believes a strong omnichannel strategy is “critical for the success of the business,” which makes it “important that we have stores come in sooner than later,” Dahiya said in the company’s first interview since the acquisition.
Meanwhile, Jonah Raskas, a New York-based investor, is working to reboot Bed Bath & Beyond’s health and beauty chain, Harmon. In January, the company closed its 50+ Harmon locations as part of an effort to stay afloat financially.
Since acquiring Harmon’s trademark for $300,000, Raskas plans to reopen five of the chain’s best-performing locations in New Jersey and New York, hopefully by year’s end, CNBC reported.
Raskas, who described himself as a longtime Harmon shopper, told the outlet, “This business never failed. This business was shut down because Bed Bath was failing.”
“We have the luxury of deciding which stores to reopen…we have the ability to focus on the right places at the right time where the customers really want us back again,” said Raskas, who added that more openings could follow the first batch.
The news comes a few weeks after Bed Bath & Beyond returned as an online-only seller.
After the home goods retailer’s intellectual property rights were purchased by Overstock.com two months ago, the brand returned Aug. 1 with a refreshed website, mobile app and loyalty program.
As for Bed Bath & Beyond’s physical stores – those will not be coming back, at least not in the foreseeable future, Overstock Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Johnson recently told CNN.
While taking over the retailer’s vast brick-and-mortar footprint “is not in the current strategic plans,” Johnson said, “We’re focused on this transition now and we like our asset-light business model … but never say never.”
Bed Bath & Beyond is in the process of auctioning off its 250 namesake stores and 120 Buybuy Baby locations.