Burlington Stores was the successful bidder in the purchase of the Bed Bath & Beyond lease in the Riverhead Centre shopping center.
The Riverhead lease was one of 44 Bed Bath & Beyond leases nationwide Burlington successfully bid to purchase at a June 26 auction directed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. Burlington bid $12 million for all 44 leases, according to documents filed with the bankruptcy court.
Nine other companies — including Michael’s Stores, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Aldi and Macy’s Retail Holdings — successfully bid on the remaining 64 Bed Bath & Beyond leases across the country.
The lease sales require the bankruptcy court’s approval. The court has scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon to consider and act on the successful bids, as well as objections filed by 17 landlords objecting to the proposed “cure amounts” to be paid by the the companies which will assume the leases. The “cure amounts” are the amounts due to “cure” any defaults, such as past-due rents, under the leases.
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy in April and announced it would begin winding down its business at all 360 stores. The stores are scheduled to close by the end of this month.
Bed Bath & Beyond opened in Riverhead Center in 2009 in a store occupied by Linens ’n Things, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Linens ’n Things was one of Riverhead Centre’s original phase-two tenants.
Burlington Stores, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is a New Jersey-based, publicly traded Fortune 500 company that had net sales of $8.7 billion in fiscal year 2022. At the end of the fiscal year the off-price retailer operated 927 stores in 46 states and Puerto Rico. When the company reported its first quarter results this year, it said it expects to open 70 to 80 “net new stores” in 2023.
Burlington has not announced plans for the Bed Bath & Beyond stores where it will assume leases if the bankruptcy court approves the lease sales. Among the Bed Bath & Beyond leases to be purchased by Burlington is one other Long Island store, located in Oceanside.
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