Bed Bath & Beyond Hires Store Optimization Leader
Bed Bath & Beyond has hired Wade Haddad as its SVP, real estate and construction.
Haddad has more than 25 years of real estate experience and will lead the retailer’s recently announced store optimization strategy, a key part of its previously disclosed comprehensive restructuring plan.
In this job, Haddad will serve as a central part of the team overseeing the comprehensive modernization of Bed Bath & Beyond’s operations, unlocking value from the property portfolio while establishing the optimal network to support new omnichannel services such as Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS), Curbside Pickup and same-day delivery.
Haddad will report to John Hartmann, COO and president of BuyBuy Baby, and will lead an enterprise-wide team to optimize the Union, New Jersey-based retailer’s approximately 50-million-square-foot real estate portfolio, including the store fleet across all banners, as well as its offices, distribution and fulfillment centers.
“We have taken a number of important steps to unlock value from our real estate portfolio, while better harnessing our stores to deliver for customers through new services such as BOPIS and Curbside Pickup,” Hartmann said. “Our store optimization and real estate strategy will allow us to serve our customers even better in the future, and support our efforts to build a sustainable, durable business model. Wade has decades of experience in multibrand portfolio management for leading retailers, with a proven track record driving efficiency and creating value.”
Prior to joining Bed Bath & Beyond, Haddad held several roles at Ascena Retail Group, a Mahwah, New Jersey-based multibrand retail corporation with a portfolio of several thousand stores. Most recently, Haddad was SVP, real estate and store development, in which role he operationalized an industry-leading real estate and store development function across all eight brands under Ascena. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Ann Inc., Klinger Advanced Aesthetics, Bieri Co. and The Taubman Co., a leading owner and manager of regional shopping centers.
"Bed Bath & Beyond is one of the most iconic brands in the retail space, with an exciting growth strategy to rebuild its authority in the home, baby, health and wellness markets,” Haddad said. “I'm excited to join the company at such a key moment in its history, to harness its real estate portfolio and optimize its store footprint in ways that support the company's vision, accelerate its plans to grow and better serve its millions of loyal customers."
