15 Businesses Most Likely to Move into Boise’s Bed, Bath and Beyond

Boise’s Bed, Bath and Beyond location on Federal Way closed for good sometime in late March. It’s only a matter of time until the one on Eagle Road in Meridian does the same. The vacancies create a unique opportunity in an area that continues to grow at a rapid pace!

Bed, Bath and Beyond Winding Down Operations

As 2023 began, the once popular big box retailer defaulted on its loans and threw a “hail mary” to try to avoid filing for bankruptcy, besides the fact that they knew that realistically the company was failing. They were cutting jobs and closing underperforming stores, including the locations in Boise, Twin Falls and Moscow, while they tried to turn things around. It wasn’t enough. They did file for bankruptcy in late April and announced they were winding down its operations.  The deadline is looming for those who still have gift cards and merchandise credit to use.  

Vacancies Mean Prime Opportunities for New Businesses in the Treasure Valley

Bed, Bath and Beyond didn’t fail in the Treasure Valley because the stores were locations. The defunct location on Federal Way is in our neighborhood. We always felt like that plaza was busy, and the TOK Commercial leasing flyer for it proves that. The neighboring Home Depot drives 208,693 visits per year. On the other side, Fred Meyer draws 367,100 visits a year. Whatever business leases the 28,000-square-foot space will be surrounded by great foot traffic. TOK currently lists the suite at $13/square foot a year or approximately $364,000 if the tenant leases the entire space. 

In Meridian, we’re not sure you could ask for a better location. Located in the Meridian Crossroads Plaza, the soon-to-be vacant storefront is at one of the busiest interactions in the state, just a stone’s throw from The Village at Meridian and the popular Albertsons Market Street store. At 34,690 Square feet, it’s a little bit bigger. The Mark Bottles Real Estate Service listing doesn’t show the lease rate. Crexi shows that it was listed on May 1. 

There are no current tenant improvement permits listed for either address, so for now, we get to dream about what will move into the locations!

What Businesses Would Be a Good Fit?

We asked our listeners on Facebook what they’d like to see move into the Boise location and while we loved some of the answers, many of them weren’t realistic. Like IKEA? First of all, they like building their own buildings and the average IKEA is about 300,000 square feet. That’s more than 10 times larger than the defunct Southeast Boise store. 

Target? We’d love a Target in Southeast Boise! Would they open next to Fred Meyer? That seems unlikely.  Plus, the retailer has quietly started closing stores in several parts of the country. 

Hastings? We love that you’re trying to keep the dream alive, but Hastings isn’t coming back. This is never going to become a Hastings. We would, however, settle for another EntertainMART! 

Several people did throw out plausible options though! There were requests for a Co-Op or Whole Foods. We’re not sure if those particular brands would be interested in the space but the Pocatello Bed, Bath and Beyond that closed did become a Grocery Outlet. 

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Job postings on Indeed spoiled the news that Natural Grocers is moving into the vacant Twin Falls store. They already have a location in Boise not far from the mall, but they are expanding their Idaho footprint, recently opening a store in McCall where the Pancake House used to be. 

CNN Business recently wrote about the businesses most interested in a space like a former Bed, Bath and Beyond. You’ll see those on this list, but what’s intriguing to us is that many of these brands already have locations near the two vacant stores. 

Would they consider moving locations? Would they open ANOTHER location? Only time will tell! We’ve put this list together using the information from CNN Business as well as researching what moved into Bed, Bath and Beyond locations that USA Today listed as closing in February 2021.