“Store Closing” signs at a Buy Buy Baby store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The New Jersey baby retailer that bought Buy Buy Baby’s intellectual property from its bankrupt parent company Bed Bath and Beyond also snatched up 11 of its leases and is well-positioned to reopen stores, court records show.
Dream on Me Industries, a longtime supplier to Buy Buy Baby for cribs, strollers and other baby goods, bought the leases at a bankruptcy-run auction on Wednesday for a total price of about $1.17 million, records filed late Thursday show.
The company already bought the baby chain’s IP, including its trademark, business data and internet properties, for $15.5 million in an auction late last month, but the deal did not include keeping Buy Buy Baby’s stores open.
It is not immediately clear what Dream on Me plans to do with the 11 leases. The retailer does not have a brick and mortar footprint and currently sells its goods through a host of retail partners, including Amazon, Kohl’s, Target, Walmart and Home Depot, according to its website.
However, Dream on Me could use the Buy Buy Baby IP assets it already obtained – plus the leases – to reopen the beloved chain.
The retailer did not immediately return a request for comment.
Long considered the crown jewel of Bed Bath and Beyond’s empire, bidders had primarily been interested in Buy Buy Baby after its parent company declared bankruptcy in late April and announced it would host a series of auctions for its assets.
Some bidders had been interested in keeping the chain’s stores open, but ultimately, no viable bids emerged.
Go Global Retail, a brand management firm that owns children’s apparel company Janie and Jack, tried to bid on Buy Buy Baby as a going concern to keep stores open, but the deal ultimately fell apart, CNBC previously reported.
About three months into liquidation sales at the chain, very little inventory is leftover, CNBC previously reported. If the stores were to reopen under new ownership, they would likely need to be closed temporarily in order to be restocked, which Dream on Me is well-positioned to do.
The leases Dream on Me won at auction, which are considered to be in prime real estate locations, are primarily dotted across the Northeast.
Four of the leases are in New Jersey, located in Paramus, Bridgewater, Woodbridge Township and Cherry Hill. Two are in New York while the rest are in Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
Dream on Me, founded in 1988, has at least six brands under its portfolio, including Evolur Baby, Sweetpea Baby and Slumber Baby.