“Store Closing” signs at a Buy Buy Baby store in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Monday, February 6, 2023.
Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The New Jersey baby retailer that bought the Buy Buy Baby intellectual property from its bankrupt parent company Bed bath and beyond also snatched 11 of its leases and is well positioned to reopen stores, court records show.
Dream on Me Industries, a longtime Buy Buy Baby supplier of cribs, strollers and other baby items, bought the leases at a bankruptcy auction on Wednesday for a total price of about $1.17 million, according to filings late Thursday.
The company has already purchased the baby channel’s intellectual property, including its brand, business data and internet properties, for $15.5 million at an auction late last month, but the deal did not include keeping Buy Buy Baby stores open.
It’s not immediately clear what Dream on Me plans to do with the 11 leases. The retailer does not have a physical footprint and currently sells its products 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 has already secured — plus leases — to reopen the beloved channel.
The retailer did not immediately return a request for comment.
Long considered the crown jewel of the Bed Bath and Beyond empire, bidders were primarily interested in Buy Buy Baby after its parent company declared bankruptcy in late April and announced it would hold a series of auctions for its assets.
Some bidders had wished to keep the chain’s stores open, but ultimately no viable bids emerged.
Go Global Retail, a brand management company that owns children’s clothing company Janie and Jack, attempted to bid on Buy Buy Baby in a bid to keep stores open, but the deal ultimately fell through, CNBC previously reported.
About three months into the chain’s liquidation sales, very little inventory remains, CNBC previously reported. If 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 placed to do.
The leases that Dream on Me won at auction, which are considered to be in prime real estate locations, are mostly scattered across the northeast.
Four of the leases are located in New Jersey, in Paramus, Bridgewater, Woodbridge Township and Cherry Hill. Two are in New York while the others are in Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
Dream on Me, founded in 1988, has at least six brands in its portfolio, including Evolur Baby, Sweetpea Baby and Slumber Baby.