Bed Bath & Beyond products returning to California amid Newsom feud
Bed Bath & Beyond products returning to California amid Newsom feud
Saleen Martin, USA TODAYFri, April 24, 2026 at 5:03 PM UTC
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Bed Bath & Beyond products will soon return to California after the company’s CEO previously said it was done with the Golden State. This comment sparked a multi-year discourse between him and the state's governor, which still doesn't seem to have an end in sight.
The announcement on Thursday, April 23, comes after the parent company, Beyond, acquired multiple brands in early April, including The Container Store, in a $150 million deal. The company will soon sell Bed Bath & Beyond products in 12 of its California Container Store locations.
The company is holding a “store changing” event, during which 98 Container Store locations will reset floors to integrate Bed Bath & Beyond products, beginning on April 24.
The move comes after a 2023 bankruptcy filing and Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Marcus Lemonis announcing on X last year that the company wouldn’t return to California because it’s nearly impossible to sustain businesses there.
Marcus Lemonis attends the 2025 Fox Nation Patriot Awards at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on November 06, 2025, in Greenvale, New York.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom welcomed the company back to the state in an April 23 news release and X post.
“Thrilled to see @BedBathBeyond once again opening stores in the Golden State,” Newsom wrote. “With a thriving economy growing faster than all other developed nations, California always reaches out with an open hand — not a closed fist.”
Newsom and Beyond’s CEO went back and forth on X last year about Bed Bath & Beyond’s refusal to operate in California, and things don’t seem to have changed much.
In an April 23 X post, Lemonis thanked the governor for “the massive incentives” he gave Bed Bath & Beyond to purchase the Container Store, then followed up with “If you have read this far you know it’s not true.”
USA TODAY contacted the company this week to find out when the transitions will be complete, and whether Bed Bath & Beyond stores will operate under a separate or combined banner.
Read more: Gov. Newsom reacts to Bed Bath & Beyond's refusal to open stores in California
Where will these Bed Bath & Beyond and the Container Store locations be?
According to Beyond, the 98 Container Store locations that will carry Bed Bath & Beyond products will begin their transitions on April 24.
Per Beyond, the 12 California stores that will carry the products will include:
Corte Madera – 219 Corte Madera Town Center
Costa Mesa – 901-G S. Coast Drive
El Segundo – 710 S. Pacific Coast Highway
Los Angeles – 10250 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 218
Palo Alto – 500 Stanford Shopping Center
Sacramento – 2030 Arden Way
San Diego – 7097 Friars Road
San Francisco – 555 Ninth St.
San Jose – 3080 Stevens Creek Blvd. Suite 1000
San Mateo – 3020 Bridgepointe Parkway
Walnut Creek – 1100 Locust St.
Woodland Hills – 21949 Ventura Blvd.
Governor says Beyond knows selling products in California is ‘economic common sense’
Newsom said in the April 23 news release that Bed Bath & Beyond “will reopen and operate a dozen stores across the state.”
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“Businesses like Bed, Bath & Beyond know that investing in California not only serves their customers’ best interests — it also serves the bottom line,” he wrote. “It’s economic common sense.”
Newsom added that “California’s economy is dominating,” and that it is outpacing other states and “every developed nation,” citing a Bloomberg analysis.
California creates more businesses than other states, including Florida and Texas, and has more than 4.3 million small businesses that employ 7.6 million people, according to Newsom. In June 2025, Newsom's office announced that California leads the nation "with the most Fortune 500 companies" for a second year in a row.
Signage is displayed outside a permanently closed Bed Bath & Beyond retail store in Hawthorne, California on May 1, 2023.What did Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO say about California last year?
Lemonis, of Beyond, said in an August 2025 news release and on X that the company would not open a brick-and-mortar location in California.
Lemonis stated that customers in California would be served solely through delivery. He attributed the decision to issues such as higher taxes, fees and wages, saying the state has created “overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses.”
"We’re taking a stand because it’s time for common sense," he wrote. "Businesses deserve the chance to succeed. Employees deserve jobs that last. And customers deserve fair prices. California’s system delivers the opposite."
His statement came while the company was trying to make a comeback after filing for bankruptcy and closing all its stores in 2023. The company reopened its first Bed Bath & Beyond Home in Tennessee on Aug. 8.
‘The company that already went bankrupt?’
Once the governor saw Lemonis’ comments about leaving California in August 2025, he responded on X: “The company that already went bankrupt and closed every store across the country two years ago?”
Lemonis pushed back and asked the governor if he was celebrating the company’s bankruptcy. He later said the governor likely made his post out of frustration.
A shopping cart stands in the parking lot of a Bed Bath & Beyond store on April 24, 2023 in Danvers, Massachusetts.
He then brought up four factors that he felt business leaders needed to thrive in today’s economy, such as:
Streamlined regulation with consistent, simplified compliance rules across state and local levels.
A balanced labor environment that’s good for employees and employers.
Litigation reform to reduce abusive lawsuits while keeping protection for workers.
Competitive tax and cost structure, and incentives to come as opposed to disincentives to leave.
“We bought the IP over two years ago and have built http://bedbathandbeyond.com into a billion dollar online business,” Lemonis wrote on Aug. 20. "We will target opening 300 small to midsize neighborhood stores (through) our Kirklands investment.”
Contributing: James Powel, USA TODAY
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Newsom feud rekindled as Bed Bath & Beyond announce California return
Source: “AOL Money”
