Mary Tierney considers herself a type A personality. “I’m highly organized and I’m not a fan of clutter,” said the part-time administrator for a law firm.
Yet tucked away in a closet of her Redding, Mass., home are 125 expired coupons for 20% off at a store that’s been closed for years. The oldest dates to 2007.
“I always thought maybe they would come back,” Tierney said. “That’s how much I loved the store. There is no other store around that is comparable.”
Redemption has come for the Bed Bath & Beyond believers.
The chain’s once-ubiquitous blue-and-white coupons are worth something again. The turn of events is providing the ultimate vindication for the die-hards who held on to the coupons long after that made any sense.
The homegoods retailer stopped accepting them in 2023 when it filed for bankruptcy and closed its stores. It relaunched online later that year under new owner Overstock.com, which changed its name to Bed Bath & Beyond. The digital version of the store offered coupons for 20% off a single item but didn’t accept the paper coupons that most shoppers had stockpiled.
Now, Bed Bath & Beyond is reopening bricks-and-mortar stores. And the paper coupon is back, with a twist: It’s also accepting old coupons.
At the opening of the first stores in Nashville this past fall, staff handed out coupons at the door. “People took selfies with them,” said Amy Sullivan, president of the retailer’s parent company. “One woman said, ‘I never thought I’d see one of these again.’” Another woman brought a Ziplock bag full of old coupons.
That outpouring inspired Bed Bath & Beyond to run a contest to find the oldest coupon. To be eligible, shoppers must bring their old coupons by July 13. The grand prize is a $100,00 home renovation. Additional prizes include $500 and $100 gift cards.
The chain plans to continue to honor expired coupons after the sweepstakes ends.
Marc Hershberg has about 13 coupons stashed away in a drawer in his apartment. He got the oldest in 2014, while at law school in Chicago and brought it with him when he moved to New York City after graduation. The rest date from 2017 and were given to him by his parents when he bought his apartment.
“I was going to throw them away when they declared bankruptcy,” said the 33-year-old entertainment lawyer and Broadway musical producer. “But I thought it was a nice keepsake.”
He likened it to finding an old shopping bag from Crazy Eddie, The Wiz, Lord & Taylor and all the other retailers that he grew up shopping at that have since shrunk or gone out of business.
“I don’t think I ever bought anything at Bed Bath & Beyond without a coupon,” he said.
Hershberg, like other coupon lovers, said he had no interest in shopping at the online version of Bed Bath & Beyond.
“I want to feel the quality of the towel or bath mat,” he said.
The chain is opening 97 co-branded locations with the Container Store, which the parent company agreed to buy in April for $150 million. Another 200 locations of Kirkland’s Home, which it acquired last year for $10 million, will also be converted to Bed Bath & Beyond stores.
Bed Bath & Beyond got its start in 1971 when founders Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein opened their first two stores in the New York City suburbs. To hide the industrial fixtures, they piled towels, linens and bedding to the ceiling, giving rise to the clutter that became a hallmark of the chain.
The company didn’t run sales and didn’t spend a lot on advertising. Instead, it used a coupon offering 20% off any item. Shoppers stockpiled the discounts because cashiers would usually accept them even if they expired.
By 2020, executives said coupons were eating into profits. The company tried to lessen its dependence by introducing a membership model. Two years later, executives acknowledged that was a mistake. They had underestimated shoppers’ coupon attachment.
It was one of a series of wrong turns that ultimately landed the retailer in bankruptcy.
Shawna May shopped at the Bed Bath & Beyond store near her home in Middleton, N.Y., so often that the employees knew her by name. All her kitchen gadgets and utensils are from the chain as are her pots, pans, bedding and towels. For her housewarming in 2010, she registered for gifts at the retailer.
“On my birthday, my wish list was always from Bed Bath & Beyond,” she said. Everything was purchased with a coupon.
The 37-year-old podcaster kept old coupons in case the store reopened. “I can’t tell you how many times I go to buy something and say, ‘I wish Bed Bath & Beyond was still here.’”
“Knowing I can use these coupons in a Bed Bath & Beyond store has made my day,” she said.
Write to Suzanne Kapner at suzanne.kapner@wsj.com
