Bed Bath & Beyond In Manalapan To Close In Corporate Cutbacks

MANALAPAN, NJ — The Manalapan Bed Bath & Beyond appears to be the only Monmouth County store that will close its doors in the chain's major corporate cost cutting.

The company Thursday released a list of stores to be closed across the country - 56 in total.

In New Jersey, the Manalapan store on Route 9 was on the list, along with the Paramus and Flanders stores.

The other three Monmouth County stores, those in Eatontown on Route 36, Aberdeen on Route 34 and Middletown on Route 35, were not on the list of closures.

An unidentified employee who answered the phone at the Manalapan store said employees had previously been made aware of the closing and that the store would be open until January, but that was unable to be confirmed officially.

Bed Bath & Beyond said last month it is closing 150 stores and cutting 20 percent of its workforce. That means more store closings could still happen.

The home products retailer has 28 stores in New Jersey, where the chain was founded in 1971, according to online data. As of May, the company operated 769 Bed Bath & Beyond "namesake" stores across the country, apart from other stores, according to an online news source.

The company said in August it had received $500 million in new financing to shore up its business model before the important fourth quarter holiday shopping season, a Patch report said.

Plans include returning national brands to store shelves, a strategy interim CEO Sue Gove said is intended to make the company once again "a preferred shopping destination."