PHOENIX – Two metro Phoenix stores appear on Bed Bath & Beyond’s 2023 closure list, as the struggling home goods retailer scales back while trying to stay afloat.

The future casualties are both in the East Valley, one at Signal Butte and Baseline roads in Mesa and the other at Chandler Village Center, just south of the Chandler Fashion Center near the Loop 101 Price Freeway and Loop 202 Santan Freeway interchange.

Three other Valley locations were on the chain’s closure list for the 2022 fiscal year, which ends in February. Two are already shuttered, while the Queen Creek Marketplace venue is on its last legs.

Once the plug is pulled on all the doomed stores, the Valley will be down to eight Bed Bath & Beyonds: two in Phoenix and one each in Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Avondale, Surprise and Gilbert.

In early January, the company warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy. A few weeks later, it said it was in default on its loans and didn’t have sufficient funds to repay what it owes.

The latest closures, announced Feb. 7, come as the company has been reducing its footprint dramatically over the past year. According to a regulatory filing, it will have shuttered more than 400 stores, nearly half of its fleet.

That includes the remaining 50 standalone Harmon Face Value Stores. The company said it anticipates keeping 360 of its namesake stores in addition to 120 BuyBuy Baby stores.

Bed Bath & Beyond also said in the filing that it expects sales at stores opened at least a year to be down anywhere from 30% to 40% during its first fiscal quarter, with “sequential quarterly improvement after that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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