Sept. 16, 2022

The Sioux Falls Bed, Bath & Beyond location was spared as part of an initial round of store closures.

The national retailer plans to close 150 stores and cut its workforce by 20 percent. It released a list of about one-third of the stores scheduled to close in the coming weeks.

The location at Empire East wasn’t on the list.

As of May, Bed, Bath & Beyond operated 769 stores.

In late August, director and interim CEO Sue Gove announced the company’s plans to improve its balance sheet and cash flow while driving growth and profitability.

“We are embracing a straight-forward, back-to-basics philosophy that focuses on better serving our customers, driving growth, and delivering business returns,” she said in a statement. “In a short period of time, we have made significant changes and instituted enablers across our entire enterprise to regain our dominance as a preferred shopping destination for our customers’ favorite brands and exciting products. We command a special presence in the home and baby markets, and we intend to fulfill our opportunity to be the category retailer of choice.”

Part of the turnaround strategy includes shifting back to carrying more national brands and away from the increased private label products the company had been carrying.

“Additionally, we are focused on driving digital and foot traffic, as well as optimizing our store fleet,” Gove said. “We believe these changes will have a widespread positive impact across customer experience, inventory assortment, supply chain execution and cost structure. The customer underpins our decisions, and we are committed to delivering what they want while driving growth, profitability, and financial returns.”