Bed Bath & Beyond chairman calls California 'overregulated, expensive, and risky' — and Gavin Newsom hits back Victoria VesovskiAugust 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM Many major retailers are packing up shop in California. Bed Bath & Beyond is one of them.
- - Bed Bath & Beyond chairman calls California 'overregulated, expensive, and risky' — and Gavin Newsom hits back
Victoria VesovskiAugust 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Many major retailers are packing up shop in California. Bed Bath & Beyond is one of them.
Bed Bath & Beyond is staging a comeback, but not everywhere.
The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023, closing 360 stores before relaunching that June under new ownership. Overstock purchased its intellectual property and relaunched the company under The Brand House Collective. Now, Bed Bath and Beyond says a new Nashville location will serve as a test site for potential future stores.
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One place it will not return to is California.
"California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America," executive chairman Marcus Lemonis said in a statement. He pointed to what he described as "higher taxes, higher fees, higher wages."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office fired back on social media platform X: "After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed Bath & Beyond no longer existed. We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a 2nd store."
California dreamin' elsewhere
Lemonis has long been critical of California's business environment, saying it makes it harder to keep stores open and deliver value to customers.
He emphasized that the retailer will still operate in "almost every other state." While brick-and-mortar stores will not reopen in California, shoppers there can still make online purchases. To meet that demand, the company plans a dedicated "California strategy," which includes same-day delivery in some areas and 24- to 48-hour shipping.
Bed Bath & Beyond isn't alone in pulling back. Between 2018 and 2021, more than 350 firms moved their headquarters out of California, according to research by Lee E. Ohanian of the Hoover Institution and Joseph Vranich, a Texas-based business relocation consultant. Many were lured away by lower taxes, lighter regulations and friendlier business climates.
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What it means for shoppers and businesses
The company is opening its first brick-and-mortar location since bankruptcy in Nashville under a slightly revised name: Bed Bath & Beyond Home.
Also looking beyond California was In-N-Out. CEO Lynsi Snyder made the move, expanding its burger chain outside the state by establishing a second headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee.
"There are a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here," Snyder said in a recent interview on the Relatable podcast.
She also raised safety concerns. In 2024, In-N-Out shuttered its Oakland restaurant after 18 years, citing rising crime in the area, even though the location was still turning a profit.
Bed Bath & Beyond has voiced similar frustrations, pointing to a rise in retail theft across the state over the past two years. A study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found shoplifting increased in major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco between 2021 and 2022. In response, voters approved Proposition 36 last November, making repeat shoplifting offenses subject to felony charges.
As companies weigh costs, regulations and safety, California's business climate will remain under a microscope. New policies may address some of those challenges, but the bigger question is whether they'll be enough to stop the outflow of retailers or if shoppers in the Golden State will have to get used to clicking "add to cart" instead of walking into a store.
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Source: "AOL Money"
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