Will a new “B” need to be added to Bed Bath & Beyond‘s (NASDAQ: BBBY) corporate name? An article in the New York Post says the home goods retailer will start serving booze at a new cafe it’s designing in a Brooklyn store that is set to open soon.
Offering food has become a hot trend among retailers. While supermarkets have long let customers eat while shopping, with grocers like Whole Foods Market serving hot foods from their kitchens while Wal-Mart leases out space to fast food chains like Subway and McDonald’s. Department stores such as Nordstrom have long had full-blown restaurants in their stores, but the concept is trickling out to an ever growing number of retailers.
While coffee shops and cafes have popped up in Kohl’s and Target stores, food also seems to have become a must-have accessory at fashion retailers like Urban Outfitters,which wants to turn its stores into destination locations. But increasingly liquor is becoming an important part of the brand extensions underway.
For example, much was made of coffee shop Starbucks opening its Evenings restaurant, which serves wine and craft beer, and last year, Target applied for a liquor license for a Chicago-area store that installed one of those Starbucks Evenings restaurants.
Maybe Brooklyn is a place where this sort of thing really connects with consumers, since the Urban Outfitters store there has two bars!
According to the Post, the new Bed Bath & Beyond store will break down other barriers for the retailer as well. In addition to having a cafe in a second level common area that serves wine and beer, it’s also going to bring together under one roof for the first time many of the chain’s other concepts including buybuyBaby, the Cost Plus World Market grocery store, and Harmon beauty care products.
The article goes on to note that though a liquor license has been approved for the store, it won’t be issued until certain work at the cafe is completed. A second store in Chelsea, which also features a cafe, has an inactive license.
As retail attempts to overcome consumer sluggishness and the threat posed by online shopping by turning their stores into destinations for more than just clothes and home goods, we may just see an even more retailers opening bars inside their stores.
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Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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