The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: Cost Plus World Market | Warren Shoulberg

As the last nameplate standing from what was once the mighty Bed Bath & Beyond empire, this brand occupies an ill-defined niche in the marketplace, yet it seems to work. We stopped by the Greensboro, N.C. store recently to try to figure out why.

The Good

First and foremost, the store is neat – not as in 1950’s ‘neato,’ but the housekeeping is outstanding. Shelves are full and displays are nicely merchandised. Maybe not all its stores are like this but most that we’ve stopped by are pretty similar.

In an era when every store seems like it never met a sku it didn’t like, this store’s mixes were edited and nicely assorted. The towels were especially well merchandised, emphasizing fancies and textures rather than same old solids.

We liked the very clever vertical dec pillow fixture that took up virtually no floor space but was highly visible and, we bet, effective on a sales-per-square-foot productivity basis. Dec pillow displays remind us of the old Pier 1 walls.

The Bad

We thought the store is missing an opportunity in bedding, especially with the demise of its big brother BBB. If it brought the same strategy it uses in bath, there could be a few bedding ensembles that stood out from the sea of sameness shoppers find elsewhere.

The Ugly

OK, what is the deal with these two nameplates? Most stores carry both names; don’t think we’ve ever seen one without the other. World Market seems to get the bigger play. Why don’t they just settle it once and for all? Here’s a case where one is better than two.