It's never fun to learn that one of our favorite retailers is going out of business. But when companies choose to close up shop for good, there is at least one thing that shoppers can find some solace in: the closing sales. During the liquidation process, most retailers will start heavily discounting products to get rid of the rest of their inventory—or as much as they can—before they shutter all of their stores. Customers can then walk away with incredible deals they would never have gotten otherwise. But as Bed Bath & Beyond approaches its final goodbye, one shopper is calling out the retailer for what she says are "scam" closing sales. Read on to find out why the company is being accused of "Dollar Tree vibes."
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Bed Bath & Beyond is closing all of its stores.
acarter89 / ShutterstockAt the end of April, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, and would be closing down its entire business as a result.
"We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations," a notice on the Bed Bath & Beyond website reads.
But before it closes all of its remaining 475 brick-and-mortar locations—which include 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 buybuy Baby stores—the company is holding closing sales across the U.S.
"Deep discounts, big savings! Discounts vary by store," the retailer states in a banner on its website. In an FAQ section on the Bed Bath & Beyond site, it indicates that all of its merchandise is on sale for up to 50 percent off.
"Millions of customers have trusted us through the most important milestones in their lives—from going to college to getting married, settling into a new home to having a baby. Our teams have worked with incredible purpose to support and strengthen our beloved banners, Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy Baby," Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. President Sue Grove said in a statement. "We deeply appreciate our associates, customers, partners, and the communities we serve, and we remain steadfastly determined to serve them throughout this process."
But one shopper says the retailer is "scamming" people with its final sales.
The closing sales are causing quite a commotion on social media, and not all of the attention is positive.
In a TikTok posted on May 24, a shopper named Sunni, who goes by the username @lambbchops, called out Bed Bath & Beyond, and earned more than 81,200 views with her now-viral video.
"I have proof Bed Bath & Beyond is scamming everyone, including me," she says.
In her TikTok, Sunni explains that she frequently checked Bed Bath & Beyond's clearance section before they announced that they were going out of business, noting that she has "found some amazing deals" that way. On one of these trips, she found eight-foot tall Christmas trees that were marked down to just $67.50 from an original price of over $200.
"I'm like, that's a good deal," she says. "So I sent a picture to my husband."
They ultimately decided to pass, but happened upon the same Christmas trees after Bed Bath & Beyond announced their closing sales.
"I see the Christmas trees and I'm like, oh, those should be like $20 now. They were $67 a few weeks ago before this sale was announced," Sunni explains. "So I go up to them and they were $112, and I was like, uh? And that still is half price from what they originally were, but..."
She claims that Bed Bath & Beyond is bringing in new products.
It's not just that previously cheaper items are now more expensive. In the caption of her original TikTok video, Sunni also accused Bed Bath & Beyond of padding its closing sales with merchandise that wasn't already in the store.
"Don't buy into their 'sales,'" she wrote. "Most of their stuff is junk that is getting shipped in daily that nobody wants."
Sunni elaborates on these claims in a new TikTok posted June 20, which has also since gone viral with nearly 60,000 views in just two days. In her most recent video, she shows viewers a sign posted outside of her local Bed Bath & Beyond store that reads, "New Merchandise Arriving Daily."
According to Sunni, some commenters had insisted her claims were not true. But she says the sign informing shoppers about the new products was added on the front doors after she made her original video.
"I did not know I was going to make so many people mad by saying this going-out-of-business sale is a scam," Sunni says in her June TikTok.
Best Life reached out to Bed Bath & Beyond about these videos and Sunni's claims, and we will update this story with their response.
Sunni says the sales have "Dollar Tree vibes."
Eric Glenn / ShutterstockSunni notes that she's not just some random shopper who used to frequent Bed Bath & Beyond's clearance section.
"You may not know this about me, but I spent over a decade in retail," she says in her June video. "I started at a store level and then when I eventually left, I was in upper leadership. So I know a little bit about retail."
According to Sunni, Bed Bath & Beyond is bringing in "random" products into its stores for these sales.
"You can see in the last clip, that's not normal Bed Bath & Beyond merchandise," she says, referencing products she filmed in the store, like games, toys, vacuums, and room organizers. "That's just stuff that they have brought in."
In the caption of her new TikTok, Sunni also wrote that the closing sale is giving her "Dollar Tree vibes" as a result of the new products.
"I'm sorry. I don't care if it's a liquidation company, it's a scam," she says. "People need to know that this is not a deal."
