Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Hires Industry Expert Wade Haddad To Lead Store Optimization & Real Estate Strategy

UNION, N.J., Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) today announced the appointment of Wade E. Haddad as Senior Vice President (SVP), Real Estate and Construction, effective today. Mr. Haddad joins with over 25 years of real estate experience and will lead the Company's recently announced store optimization strategy, a key part of its previously disclosed comprehensive restructuring plan.    

In this new role Mr. Haddad will be a central part of the team overseeing the comprehensive modernization of the Company's operations, unlocking value from the property portfolio while establishing the optimal network to support new omnichannel services such as Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS), Curbside Pickup, and same day delivery. Mr. Haddad will report to John Hartmann, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of buybuy BABY, and will lead an enterprise-wide team to optimize the Company's approximately 50 million square foot real estate portfolio including the store fleet across all banners, as well as its offices, distribution and fulfilment centers.

COO John Hartmann said, "We have taken a number of important steps to unlock value from our real estate portfolio, while better harnessing our stores to deliver for customers through new services such as BOPIS and Curbside Pickup. Our store optimization and real estate strategy will allow us to serve our customers even better in the future, and support our efforts to build a sustainable, durable business model. Wade has decades of experience in multi-brand portfolio management for leading retailers, with a proven track record driving efficiency and creating value. His vision and expertise will help accelerate our plans to enhance the omni-always shopping experience for our customers."

Prior to joining Bed Bath & Beyond, Mr. Haddad held several roles at Ascena Retail Group, a multi-brand retail corporation with a portfolio of several thousand stores. Most recently, Mr. Haddad was SVP, Real Estate & Store Development, where he operationalized an industry-leading real estate and store development function across all eight brands under Ascena. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Ann Inc, Klinger Advanced Aesthetics, Bieri Company, and The Taubman Company, a leading owner and manager of regional shopping centers.

Mr. Haddad said, "Bed Bath & Beyond is one of the most iconic brands in the retail space, with an exciting growth strategy to rebuild its authority in the Home, Baby, Health and Wellness markets.  I'm excited to join the Company at such a key moment in its history, to harness its real estate portfolio and optimize its store footprint in ways that support the Company's vision, accelerate its plans to grow and better serve its millions of loyal customers."

About Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy for our customers to feel at home. The Company sells a wide assortment of domestic merchandise and home furnishings. The Company also provides a variety of textile products, amenities and other goods to institutional customers in the hospitality, cruise line, healthcare and other industries. Additionally, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath & Beyond.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the Company's progress and anticipated progress towards its long-term objectives. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate, assume, continue, model, project, plan, goal, and similar words and phrases, although the absence of those words does not necessarily mean that statements are not forward-looking. The Company's actual results and future financial condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such factors include, without limitation: general economic conditions including the housing market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related changes in the retailing environment; risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the governmental responses to it, including its impacts across the Company's businesses on demand and operations, as well as on the operations of the Company's suppliers and other business partners, and the effectiveness of the Company's actions taken in response to these risks; consumer preferences, spending habits and adoption of new technologies; demographics and other macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending for the types of merchandise sold by the Company; civil disturbances and terrorist acts; unusual weather patterns and natural disasters; competition from existing and potential competitors across all channels; pricing pressures; liquidity; the ability to achieve anticipated cost savings, and to not exceed anticipated costs, associated with organizational changes and investments, including the Company's strategic restructuring program; the ability to attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of the organization; the cost of labor, merchandise and other costs and expenses; potential supply chain disruption due to trade restrictions, and other factors such as natural disasters, such as pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability, labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or operational instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items; the ability to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy costs and other terms to support the Company's plans for new stores; the ability to establish and profitably maintain the appropriate mix of digital and physical presence in the markets it serves; the ability to assess and implement technologies in support of the Company's development of its omnichannel capabilities; the ability to effectively and timely adjust the Company's plans in the face of the rapidly changing retail and economic environment, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty in financial markets; volatility in the price of the Company's common stock and its effect, and the effect of other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on the Company's capital allocation strategy; risks associated with the ability to achieve a successful outcome for its business concepts and to otherwise achieve its business strategies; the impact of intangible asset and other impairments; disruptions to the Company's information technology systems including but not limited to security breaches of systems protecting consumer and employee information or other types of cybercrimes or cybersecurity attacks; reputational risk arising from challenges to the Company's or a third party product or service supplier's compliance with various laws, regulations or standards, including those related to labor, health, safety, privacy or the environment; reputational risk arising from third-party merchandise or service vendor performance in direct home delivery or assembly of product for customers; changes to statutory, regulatory and legal requirements, including without limitation proposed changes affecting international trade; changes to, or new, tax laws or interpretation of existing tax laws; new, or developments in existing, litigation, claims or assessments; changes to, or new, accounting standards; and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.