Dive Brief:
- Bed Bath & Beyond and its pending acquisition The Brand House Collective on Tuesday announced the appointment of Nora Gomez as chief merchandising officer. The companies agreed to merge last month.
- Gomez, who has more than two decades of experience in assortment, sourcing and multichannel execution, most recently was the chief merchant at NFM, formerly known as Nebraska Furniture Mart.
- On Friday, Bed Bath & Beyond said Glen Cary, whose experience includes over a decade at the previous iteration of Bed Bath & Beyond, would return as chief of stores.
Dive Insight:
Bed Bath & Beyond and The Brand House Collective aren’t waiting for their agreement to close to build up their leadership team. Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman and principal executive officer at Bed Bath & Beyond, called Gomez’s hire “a major addition as we enter 2026” and said she will bring “operational precision.”
The merger is a culmination of deals that has included the un-branding and re-branding of Bed Bath & Beyond, the acquisition of Kirkland’s IP for $5 million, the acquisition of Kirkland’s Home for $10 million and the formation of The Brand House Collective.
The flurry of activity comes amid a significant slowdown in the sales of home goods. The space enjoyed a boom during the pandemic as people focused on their abodes and worked from home, but sales flattened as daily life normalized. More recently, tariffs and general economic uncertainty have further challenged the sector.
Some 40 stores will close as part of the Bed Bath & Beyond-Brand House Collective tie-up, and Jefferies analysts led by Jonathan Matuszewski expect the company to pick up the pace on the plan to convert Kirkland stores to Bed Bath & Beyond locations.
Lemonis’ involvement with the company has steadily increased since he joined the board in 2023 and within months, became executive chairman. Under his leadership, the company “upgraded its technology infrastructure, sharpened its view of customer data, and optimized fixed cost expenses,” Matuszewski said in a Nov. 24 client note.
The analysts see potential in “the reincarnation of the Bed Bath brand on a larger stage,” with plans for more than 200 stores. But they believe the company is “a 'show me' story with significant change taking place, which yields execution risk in an intensifying competitive backdrop.”
