Following up from my last post that mentioned I was working on decluttering my living space, recently visited the newly remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond flagship store in the Chelsea section of New York City (6th Ave. & 18th Street.) The layout has certainly been decluttered! The store is much cleaner including wider aisles, lower sight lines and with a number of large windows the main floor is much brighter. This format is part of the new CEO's three year turnaround plan. Overall the shopping experience was ok; nothing more and nothing less.
Along with the decluttering is of course less merchandise. Prominently displayed is the retailer's private label merchandise, including a line named "Our Table," the new kitchen and dining collection. It looked nice and cheerful, well sized and thoughtfully simple. Though when I picked up a bowl it seemed heavy. Yet if price is the reason to purchase, then for $5 this bowl and the entire dining set at a reasonable price might be a buy. (The price is less if you are a Beyond Member.) I wished there were more national labels available in the store but that goes against the strategy. The retailer is planning to have about eight private labels by early 2022. Based on my limited interaction with Our Table unsure if I'm going to pursue these other private labels.
My local Bed Bath and Beyond closed last year so I took my short shopping list to the Chelsea store. The checkout is a key memory in this shopping trip. There were lots of self checkout stations and only a few cashiers at those stations. Since I had coupons on my phone and paper coupons decided to have a cashier do the checking out. The self check out stations were not busy and I waited what seemed to be a long time to pay. I believe there were 2 cashiers at the check out. The cashier was pleasant and professional. But my thoughts were about the wait to pay!
Management will probably be making adjustments to this new format. In addition to recommending more cashiers be employed to assist customers with a speedy checkout experience, or have those assigned to assist the self checkouts with problems move over to being a cashier to work with those who'd like the cashier experience, recommend the restrooms also get some more attention. At the risk of TMI, the stall I was in did not have any tissue. Unlike Elaine in Seinfeld, there wasn't anyone there to ask if she could spare a square!
Have you shopped the remodeled Bed Bath and Beyond in Chelsea? What was your experience?
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