Headlines were made on April 23, 2023 when Bed Bath & Beyond announced its Chapter 11 filing and plans to liquidate all inventory and shutter all stores. Despite the company’s struggles in recent years, questions remain as to what will happen with the space once everything has been liquidated. According Placer.ai’s Shira Petrack, a sudden glut of retail space is unlikely due to the average store size being closer in size to a typical grocery store than other retailers at 32,000 square feet. Various tenant classes such as grocery stores and fitness chains are eyeing these soon-to-be-vacated spaces; however there is no one tenant that can take over their entire real estate portfolio given their wide variety of markets across 360 venues.
Placer.ai conducted research on consumer base in select trade areas where Bed Bath & Beyond stores are located which revealed median household incomes ranging from $53k – $108k; median age between 35 – 38 years old; share of households with children ranging from 16% – 31%; varying demand for exercise products or natural products or even online shoe shopping; trade area sizes ranged from 37 sq mi up 183 sq mi (the smallest serving larger population than largest).
The answer as to what retailers will find this space useful boils down two words: it depends! Fitness centers may favor sites with smaller densely populated trade areas while home improvement retailers could benefit more from larger less densely populated regions since they don’t rely on frequent repeat visitors but rather DIY materials demand strength instead .
