UNION, N.J. – According to recently filed WARN notices, retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond is laying off nearly 400 workers in Florida and New Jersey.
A contact center operations location in Ocoee, Florida will shut its doors August 22, leaving 229 employees jobless. 148 employees will also be laid off at the company's headquarters in New Jersey.
Earlier this year, the retailer announced it would soon eliminate 500 jobs, around 10 percent of its total staff. If that includes these New Jersey and Florida layoffs, more than a hundred are still to come.
Bed Bath and Beyond is certainly not the only retailer with troubles as of late.
In early June, Pier 1 announced it will be going out of business entirely. All 541 remaining stores began liquidation sales. Permanent closures should be complete by October.
JCPenney filed for bankruptcy last month. The retailer stopped selling furniture in store in February 2019 in an effort to optimize store layouts. It sold all sorts of home furniture, ranging from bedroom and home office furniture to mattresses.
In early March, Midwestern furniture retail giant Art Van Furniture went bankrupt and closed all store locations over 60 days. Art Van was one of the biggest furniture retailers in the Midwest, operating 141 stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, as well as a full service e-commerce website, with an additional 45 freestanding Art Van PureSleep bedding stores. More than 3,100 workers were laid off.
What's to blame? Amazon? Changing shopping habits? More online shopping? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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