Struggling big box retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is closing its Lewisville distribution center and eliminating 374 jobs.
All employees are being terminated at the facility at 2900 South Valley Parkway, which is closing permanently, the New Jersey-based retailer said in a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission.
The retailer leased the almost 800,000-square-foot facility in 2016 to fill e-commerce orders.
The job cuts, one of the largest layoff notices in North Texas in recent months, will start on March 26 and end by April 1, the company said. Local job cuts are happening, even as Texas has been leading the nation in new jobs created.
Bed Bath & Beyond, which as recently as late 2021 spent $600 million buying back its stock, is in a cash crunch. JPMorgan Chase, Sixth Street and other lenders have cut it off. It could find a buyer but that hasn’t happened yet.
Bed Bath & Beyond is exploring all options, including bankruptcy reorganization. On Friday, the chain said it would close 87 more stores, including the entire Harmon drugstore chain, which operates in the Northeast.
The retailer went through an unsuccessful turnaround under former CEO Mark Tritton, who was brought in from Target in 2019 and left the company in June.
Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData, said the company is living on borrowed time and money and its fate is now in the hands of creditors who are demanding repayment.
“Unfortunately, Bed Bath & Beyond is in no position to meet the demands. It has virtually diminished its cash reserves, has obligated all of its assets against existing debt and has a business that is still not working,” Saunders said.
Short of a miracle in the form of a sale of part or all of the business or a new loan from an investor, “the most likely outcome is bankruptcy,” he said.
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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