I recently moved to my new home and most of the wine and liquor is kept in the basement in the “bar” area. However given that I spend most of my time on the main floor of the house, I was looking for an item to store some wine and liquor that can easily be accessible without walking up and down the stairs. Therefore over the weekend I entered in the retail store Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B) in search for a wine bar.
BB&B is a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across the US, Puerto Rico, Canada and even New Zealand. They primarily sell goods for the bedroom and bathroom but have expanded to the kitchen, dining room and seasonal items as well. Since its main competitor Linens ‘n Things liquidated, BB&B has few remaining retail competitors that include Wal-Mart, Target and of the smaller variety, Pier 1 Imports. Companies like Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma are also considered competitors but are more specialized and upscale than the merchandise sold at BB&B.
After leaving the store with the wine bar that I was looking for and some observation of the store and its surrounds, I was able to reflect on what I noticed from an environments perspective. The first thing that is noticeable is how the store predominantly places its seasonal items, in this case Thanksgiving, right at the front entrance. Another very noticeable and convenient thing is how the products in the store are laid out. The products and sections flow very nicely from kitchen to dining, bedroom sets to bedding, and bath and bathroom accessories. It makes traveling the store and locating items fairly easy. Lastly, what is very noticeable about the environment is friendliness and accommodating the staff is. Several times I was approached by a representative asking me if I needed help finding anything or making sure I had everything I was looking for. They also were very