‘Nightmare’ for Pa. mom-to-be who lost $1,000 due to Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy

Jessica Ferrara never thought securing items from her baby shower registry would be a major source of stress at the end of her pregnancy.

But since Bed Bath & Beyond announced last month that it was going out of business, the experience has been “a nightmare,” one that has left her and her husband out at least $1,000, she said.

As they saw stock getting low on certain items that had been on the registry with Buy Buy Baby, which is owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, the Easton, Pa., couple began online shopping for necessities, such as a crib that converts into a toddler bed and the items needed to turn a dresser into a changing table. Then, before the purchases arrived, the site indicated they went out of stock, she said. No one from customer service has been able to help them get their money back, Ferrara said, or provide clarity on whether the items will arrive before their first child is born early this summer.

“Your third trimester you’re supposed to be enjoying it and nesting,” said Ferrara, 36. “There certainly hasn’t been any nesting going on.”

Ferrara’s baby shower is Saturday, and guests can no longer view her registry. Even if they could, she added, every item is out of stock or discontinued. At this point, she said, she’s hoping people give her gift cards.

Just not to Bed Bath & Beyond or Buy Buy Baby.

The chain, famous for its ever-redeemable 20% off coupons, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month and announced a “winding down” process for its remaining 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, as well as its 120 Buy Buy Baby locations. All stores are set to be closed by July.

Those beloved coupons are no longer accepted (though the Container Store and Boscov’s will take them until the end of May). Gift cards, rewards, and merchandise credits can’t be used anymore, either.

After the closing announcement last month, Bed Bath & Beyond and Buy Buy Baby told customers it planned to partner with another platform, to which they could transfer their existing registry data. At the time, the company said it would share more details in the coming days.

More than two weeks later, that information has not been released on their social media channels or website.

“Customers’ registry data is important to us. As we work diligently to partner with a third-party that allows our registry customers to transfer their data and complete their registry, customers can continue to view and download their existing registry data,” Bed Bath & Beyond said Wednesday in a statement. “We’ll provide updates as they are available.”

While registrants such as Ferrara have been left frustrated and in the dark, others narrowly escaped the headache by ditching their Bed Bath & Beyond registries in the months before the latest bankruptcy.

Since January, Zola, a popular wedding planning and registry site, has seen an increasing number of couples migrating their registries from Bed Bath & Beyond. Even before the bankruptcy announcement, the number of couples with upcoming weddings who linked Bed Bath & Beyond registries to their Zola accounts had fallen by half compared with couples with 2022 weddings, a decrease representing thousands of registries, according to spokesperson Emily Forrest.

Hundreds of couples have emailed Zola customer support to ask for assistance in removing Bed Bath & Beyond items from their registries. About 200 did so proactively, Forrest said, and hundreds more have asked for help since the bankruptcy announcement.

Lisa Glennon, 31, of South Philadelphia, shut down her Bed Bath & Beyond wedding registry in the days after the bankruptcy, moving everything on that list to an Amazon registry.

Only four items on the Bed Bath & Beyond registry had been purchased — she isn’t sure by whom — in advance of her June bridal shower. Despite the company’s initial assurances, she didn’t want anyone else to purchase an item, in case it didn’t come.

“It’s people’s money,” she said. “And now whoever bought the four things on the registry: Are they going to get there?”

Ferrara said she would have redone her registry on another site, but she was too far along in a high-risk pregnancy to do so. Plus, right after Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy announcement, she added, the company told people with registries not to worry.

Ferrara’s weeks have been far from worry-free since.

“We’ve spent most of our own money getting our own registry gifts at this point, and we haven’t even tipped the scale of all the things you need for the newborn,” she said. “I’m on the phone with customer service nonstop. … No one is really willing to help at this point.”