Save My Life, I'm Going Down for the Last Time...

Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bergdorf’s, Saks…and that’s just midtown Manhattan.

There’s nothing sad about this.

This is a good thing. An unprofitable company should not stick around for the sake of memories or nostalgia. It’s the same reason we prune trees.

Life will go on, and probably be better for it.

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Sure, but they aren’t quite the same as Bed Bath and Beyond.

Yeah, I think I bought my Breville COMPACT Smart Oven from BBB too, and I bought mine about 6 years ago.

True. They’re department stores. BB&B is a housewares store. No clothes, no perfume, no furniture.

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My first thought, like many of our first thoughts, was “there goes an affordable selection of pretty good stuff everybody needs.” Upon reflection it seems there has been significant growth in households that simply do not cook. At best they reheat. My next door neighbors probably get take-out five nights a week. I know a large number of office workers who get breakfast at Starbucks or McDonald’s and lunch at places like Subway and Quizno’s. It is a widespread and depressing reality. A few pieces of silverware, a couple of plates and bowls, and some chopsticks that came with a carry out order, accompanied by the microwave and/or toaster oven (for those nights they crave a home cooked meal and have a Digiorno pizza. The beer and the canned kombucha do not need glasses. These folk do not even need storage items. The condiments are individually packaged, and any uneaten food just gets the plastic lid put back.

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I hate to admit this, but when I need something… my first thought is Amazon or ebay (not going to a physical store). Gasoline is now $5.00/gallon and it doesn’t make sense to go from store to store searching for an item.
As an example, I wanted a KitchenAid immersion blender and no one had the color in stock that matched my stand mixer, so I ordered if off of Amazon. Same price and they dropped it off right at my front door.
I’m also liking Zoro and Home Depot (home delivery option) for (smaller) home repair items. I’ve been surprised by how many items Home Depot ships for free.

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Not according to this:

Today, 82 percent of the meals Americans eat are prepared at home, a much higher percentage than a decade ago, according to research from NPD Group Inc. cited by Bloomberg.

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I’m still using the saucepan, mixer, blender ,silverware and shower curtain that I bought at Bed Bath and Beyond in NYC in 1997. I bought my linens at Macy’s. I still have some of them, as well as a lamp with a lamp shade that matched my Wamsutta comforter. Most of my IKEA furniture has been donated, but I still have a pine table that I bought at the IKEA in Elizabeth. Time flies.

Self-fulfilling prophecy–when all the B&Ms are gone.

In the latest case of the Breville, I DID check Amazon, eBay, and others. None offered as low a final price as did BB&B, by margins greater than the gas necessary to retrieve the item. And I knew they had the model in stock.

I like kicking tires. I’ve mentioned before about how all my previous BSOs have had janky control switches and flimsy racks. If my visit to BB&B had shown the appliance to be the same, I probably would have passed on buying another. If I’d ordered online, the tire I’d kick would already been mine, and the prospect of returning would not only be an ordeal, but a return via United Breakage Service would mean I’d be without an oven even longer. It simply feels irresponsible to buy something online that I might return upon opening.

BTW, I buy gas directly across the street from my closest BB&B, so it’s never been a grueling road trip to get there.

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And that’s what I’ll go for before they close, just to “stock up” on things I know I can get there at a good price. But yes - once the pandemic hit, they took a beating with supply issues.

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Wow! I wonder how much preparation is involved. Our local grocers have lots of prepared meal offerings. Does it count as preparing a meal to reheat a pot pie or take the lid off a cobb salad? The variety of ways we handle eating has certainly continued to evolve.

I think prepared food or meal kits are a big part of it. But even if that’s what you eat, you still need some of the stuff BB&B sells unless you just microwave everything and eat it out of the container.

I think that’s right. But I don’t see any among that cohort converting their kitchens into social media green rooms. And there’s still plenty of social pressure to have all the status cooking amenities and cookware.

I think the unifying quality that drives this turn away from cooking is laziness and self-disrespect

Bloomberg article was dated 2018, unless they updated it mid-article. I would think that Covid increased the number of meals prepared at home.

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Yes, also that. My work brings me in contact with a lot of people in their late teens and 20s, and more of them cook than you might think.

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You absolutely still need some of that stuff!

It was a great place to buy Breville and even though the 20% off coupon excluded that brand, they would give it to you if you went into store and asked.

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Yes. And when one of my previous Brevilles died out-of-warranty, BB&B replaced it for free.

Customer Service was never one of their problems.

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I used to be this way too but I don’t trust Amazon much these days. I feel like I have to spend too much time making sure I am not reading misleading or inaccurate descriptions of items or receiving seconds or refurbished items that are listed as new. I still shop for small inexpensive things that are easy to lug to UPS for returns but for higher priced items, I want to see what I’m getting.