Judge authorizes sale of BuyBuy Baby brand and digital assets for $15.5 million in bankruptcy proceedings.
Check It Out: BuyBuy Baby's iconic name will persist, but the brick-and-mortar shops are officially gone.
On Tuesday, Judge Vincent Papalia in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey granted Dream on Me's purchase of BuyBuy Baby's trademark and digital assets for a whopping $15.5 million. Dream on Me, a former vendor of BuyBuy Baby, made a stalking horse bid last month.
Court documents reveal that the purchase encompasses all of BuyBuy Baby's business intellectual property, such as digital properties, mobile platform, business data, advertising, and marketing assets. Despite an email request for comment from Retail Dive, Mark Srour-Serure, Dream on Me's president and the deal's buyer and guarantor, remained unresponsive.
Both Dream on Me and BuyBuy Baby call New Jersey home. Dream on Me caters to the market for apparel, furniture, and bedding, similar to BuyBuy Baby, which filed for Chapter 11 in April. An auction for BuyBuy Baby's stores was planned, but it was cancelled last week because no bids were received to keep the stores running as a going concern.
Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Bed Bath & Beyond split up its business assets and attempted to sell them off separately to maximize value for stakeholders. The process, however, has been marred by delays, and the legal proceedings to dissolve Bed Bath & Beyond's business operations continue. Before filing for bankruptcy, Bed Bath & Beyond closed its Canadian stores and Harmon, a U.S.-based beauty products chain with 50 stores. At the time of filing, BuyBuy Baby boasted 120 stores.
CNBC reported on Tuesday that Go Global Retail, owners of children's apparel company Janie and Jack, had expressed interest in BuyBuy Baby. However, negotiations on value fell through, and instead, Bed Bath & Beyond's lead creditor, Sixth Street Partners, opted to sell BuyBuy Baby's IP, auction its leases, and push ahead with liquidation sales.
Bed Bath & Beyond acquired BuyBuy Baby in 2007 for $67 million along with $19 million in debt repayment. At the time, BuyBuy Baby had eight stores in four mid-Atlantic states.The company, co-founded by two former Bed Bath & Beyond employees in 1996, started out small but eventually expanded across the nation.
Dream on Me, founded in a small retail store in New Jersey in 1988, offers a variety of products online, including cribs, mattresses, strollers, high chairs, and other furniture and accessories. Additionally, their products are stocked in popular retailers like Target, Walmart, and Kohl's.
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- The purchase of BuyBuy Baby's trademark and digital assets for $15.5 million by Dream on Me indicates a potential shift in the retail industry, as AI, digital properties, and business data become increasingly important.
- The acquisition of BuyBuy Baby's intellectual property by Dream on Me, a fellow New Jersey-based company, could potentially impact the children's apparel, furniture, and bedding industry, as Dream on Me competes in similar markets.
- The sale of BuyBuy Baby's intellectual property, instead of its physical stores, may signal a wider trend in business, with companies preferring to focus on digital assets and online sales rather than brick-and-mortar retail.
- The liquidation of BuyBuy Baby's stores, coupled with the sale of its intellectual property to Dream on Me, could potentially affect trade and finance, as less domestic retail options may lead to increased imports from foreign manufacturers.
