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Is Bed, Bath & Beyond losing its competitive edge?

Posted on February 24th, 2009 – 3:31 PM
By John Ewoldt

Competition is a good thing for consumers. When the competition fails, things start to change. Case in point: Now that Linens N Things is closing, Bed, Bath & Beyond is strictly enforcing the expiration dates on its “20 percent off one item” coupons. Remember when you could let the coupons stack up because BBB accepted its own expired coupons? You could buy 10 items and use 10 coupons, eight of them expired. But no longer. Now the coupons have a big yellow warning to “Please use before the expiration date.”

I contacted BB&B to ask the reason for the policy change and was told by Catherine Gentile, PR manager, that customers should use the coupons before they expire. In other words, she dodged the question. Anyone else noticed any recent changes, good or bad, at Bed, Bath & Beyond?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Home furnishings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to "Is Bed, Bath & Beyond losing its competitive edge?"

Debbie says:

February 26th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

Yes I asked at BBB also and I was told it was becausdse they had to registers and they would not accept after the experiation date, my thoughts are reprogram the registers, I live at least an hour away from the closest store and with the economy and gas prices flucuating I know my 20 % coupons will expire before I make a special trip to BBB to use them.

Will says:

February 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

We get BBB coupons in the mail all the time, maybe every week or two. If one expires, just wait a while and you’ll get another one! In other words don’t worry about the discount today, you’ll have another one tomorrow.

Jim says:

February 26th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

They send those coupons out on a regular basis in the hopes of getting you in the store once a month, and hopefully, get you to buy additional items that aren’t 20% off. It was foolish of them to ever accept expired ones. Now they’re actually enforcing the terms they’ve had all along. I’m sure they’re struggling like everyone else, and it seems like a pretty sensible approach to staying in business.

zeiss says:

February 26th, 2009 at 4:11 pm

so i guess the “beyond” no longer rings true…

bryan says:

February 26th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

I always use coupons in BBB and don’t buy anything without one. I think changing their coupon policy was a bad idea. The products sold at BBB are expensive. If they don’t want to give out coupons, they need to slash prices. It’s like going to a sale and thinking you’re getting a good deal, but really you know the store marks the item up so you think you’re getting a good deal when you’re really not. Same with these coupons. Now, not only are you not getting a “good deal” you’re expected to pay their high prices. And, true, these coupons come out all the time, but it’s a pain to have to wait until a coupon comes to make a purchase. I think they are betting on that, thinking the consumer will just buy the items because they don’t want the hassle of coming back every few weeks with their one coupon. Only time will tell.

Sharon says:

February 27th, 2009 at 10:16 am

I can completely understand why they had to start enforcing their coupon expiration dates. With the economy the way it is and people stock-piling their endless supply of BBB coupons it must have certainly cut into their profit margin. I would routinely go through the store and pass out coupons to senior citizens or customers with large ticket items as a random act of kindness. This was especially true on the last day of BBB accepting old/expired coupons. Those “fun times” are over now. I am now getting just one coupon per month. I would like to see a larger time window before this new coupon expires. I would rather they change their coupon policy than have to close their business. They carry such a huge selection of items, it would be a tremendous loss of they weren’t open anymore!

Sara says:

February 27th, 2009 at 2:32 pm

Since BB&B changed their policy they have only been sending out one coupon per redemption period. I’ve also noticed recently that some pantry canisters I’ve been slowly buying have gone up by $2 each. I’m not sure if other prices have increased as well or if it’s just these items.