For decades, Bed Bath & Beyond has helped shoppers furnish their homes. Now, it wants to help them buy one.
The retailer is reinventing itself as what executives describe as an end-to-end homeownership platform, offering everything from furnishings to renovations, financing, and real estate services.
On June 17, the big-box store unveiled its next step in achieving that long-term goal — the acquisition of a technology-driven real estate platform that could position Bed Bath & Beyond as a new competitor to Zillow and Redfin.
Bed Bath & Beyond buys a real estate platform
In early June, Bed Bath & Beyond revealed that it had signed an agreement to purchase Fathom Holdings Inc. for $53 million.
The acquisition will allow Bed Bath & Beyond to participate in every step of the homebuying process, from identifying active listings to helping buyers obtain the mortgages and financing necessary to buy those homes.
It’s the latest step in the company’s attempts to expand beyond traditional retail.
Over the past year, the company has pursued a series of deals designed to build a broader homeownership ecosystem, Forbes reported. This includes investments in home services, renovations, financing, and real estate-related businesses.
“Fathom’s integrated platform and technology capabilities complement Bed Bath & Beyond’s Everything Home strategy and accelerate the company’s vision to create the nation’s first end-to-end homeownership platform,” the retailer said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The move will also put them in direct competition with leading platforms like Zillow and Redfin.
Over the course of the last decade, Zillow and Redfin have become the go-to destinations for prospective home buyers. The digital platforms allow users to do everything from browse property listings to connect with agents to access financial resources.
By purchasing Fathom, Bed Bath & Beyond is betting it can build a similar system for homebuyers while also monetizing the furnishings, renovations, and services that follow a home purchase.
“[We] believe homeowners increasingly want a single trusted relationship throughout the lifecycle of the home,” Bed Bath & Beyond said. “By assembling capabilities… and integrating them into a unified platform, Bed Bath & Beyond intends to create a more connected experience for homeowners and the neighborhoods they call home.”
Bed Bath & Beyond’s turnaround goes far beyond retail
For those who haven’t kept a close eye on Bed Bath & Beyond after it filed for bankruptcy in 2023, the decision to acquire Fathom may seem unexpected. However, it actually fits quite neatly into a turnaround strategy that’s been taking shape for months.
When Marcus Lemonis took over as Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO in January 2026, he told shareholders he intended to turn the retailer into an “everything home company.”
“Real value is created not just by the home itself but by everything that touches it throughout its lifecycle, from furnishing and maintaining to insuring, financing, improving and ultimately moving,” he wrote in a letter to shareholders.
“Our strategy is built around serving the home as a living platform or operating system and the customer as the evolving holder of that asset.”
In an effort to bring that vision to life, the retailer has been steadily acquiring a string of smaller businesses like Kirkland’s, Lumber Liquidators, Beyond Home Services, Medici, and Tokens.com.
Together, these acquisitions support nearly every step in the homeownership cycle, from funding the purchase (Medici, Tokens.com) to doing repairs and renovations (Lumber Liquidators and the other F9 properties) to furnishing the finished space (Kirklands, Bed Bath & Beyond).
Fathom fills the last major gap in Bed Bath & Beyond’s everything home strategy: providing buyers a platform to find and purchase a home.
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Wall Street has concerns about the plan
While the company remains optimistic about its strategy, the “everything home” concept does have its fair share of doubters.
“[Bed Bath & Beyond] needs to start integrating all of this so that they have a coherent proposition,” GlobalData’s Neil Saunders told Forbes. “Their track record of doing this is not great and it is not at all clear how their vision will come to life or how it will be differentiated.”
Saunders’ comments highlight the major risk the company is taking with this reinvention — that its complexity won’t confuse consumers to the point that it becomes dismissed.
“At present, the business is a bit of a hodgepodge and the vision of how it becomes a cohesive company within the home space remains somewhat unclear,” Saunders told the outlet.
More real estate news:
- Zillow has bad news for first-time homebuyers
- Redfin reveals painful new housing reality for buyers
- Zillow flags surprising shift spreading fast in US housing market
Other analysts, like Warren Shoulberg, have pointed out the risk that comes with combining a number of distressed or formerly bankrupt companies.
“What can’t be lost here is that Lemonis is trying to take a bunch of broken brands and build a new retail organization,” Shoulberg told Forbes. “It’s hard enough to do with brands that are reasonably successful. I just don’t see a happy ending here.”
Despite the skepticism, Lemonis remains certain the strategy will work.
“Homeownership is one of the most important financial and emotional commitments people make in their lives,” he said in a statement.
Having a trusted brand to help through every step of the process could be the exact opportunity Bed Bath & Beyond needs to achieve success.
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