Toms River: New Jersey-based home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond announced earlier they were closing up to 200 stores nationwide as a result of slumping sales. All 200 stores would be closed over the next two years, with COVID-19 taking much of the blame- along with shifting customer shopping patterns. The first set of stores listed resulted in 63 locations to be closed by the end of 2020. Initially only Howell and Rockaway stores were reported to close here in New Jersey. OCSN has recently discovered that the Toms River, NJ store at 1240 Hooper Avenue has now been designated to close. A real estate listing has surfaced on 10/09/2020 announcing that the 34,000 SF retail building will be available for purchase in January 2021. Bed Bath & Beyond has recently completed a total overhaul/remodel of their Brick, NJ location to showcase the future of the company’s stores. It is assumed that the spanking-new Brick store will serve customers once Toms River goes dark.

This Toms River building dates back to one of the original retail stores on Hooper Avenue when the Ocean County Mall was built. Originally built as a BEST Catalog Showroom, that company would close all stores by 1998. After BEST, Linens N Things would relocate their store from a smaller parcel in the plaza down to the larger vacant space. NJ-based Linens N Things would also go bankrupt and shutter all their physical stores by 2008. Bed Bath & Beyond opened their current store shortly after Linens vacated and a brief period of remodeling the space. Now with COVID-19 claiming more retail victims seemingly each day it appears, customers will have to find another place to use their expired 20% off coupons.

Click HERE for listing on LoopNet- https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1240-Hooper-Ave-Toms-River-NJ/21190121/