When Marcus Lemonis took over running what was then called Beyond Inc. in December 2023, he preached an “asset-light” model, which is business speak for not owning stuff in the real world—especially stores. Well, guess what? Two years later, he will own more than 300 of them, as well as all the inventory associated with those locations and a payroll that includes hundreds of retail employees. It’s only the latest twist in what has become an incredibly convoluted path for the company—now called Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.—that will make for a fascinating Harvard Business School case study someday.

The new (and decidedly not light) assets come courtesy of the company’s just-announced acquisition of The Brand House Collective, a furniture and decor chain that used to be known as Kirkland’s. The $26.8 million deal is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of next year, pending the usual approval process.

In the meantime, The Brand House Collective has been in the process of converting its entire 300-plus-store fleet (minus 30 to 40 locations that will be closed along the way) into Bed Bath & Beyond–branded outposts, shifting the store formats from its former home decor–centric merchandising mix to include Bed Bath & Beyond’s signature blend of home goods and housewares. These conversions were originally underway as part of a licensing arrangement, with Brand House paying royalties to Bed Bath & Beyond; with this new deal, Bed Bath and its restless “principal executive officer” (a title Lemonis assumed earlier this year) will officially own the stores and all the accoutrements associated with them.

For Lemonis, who has wheeled and dealed in an endless blur since investors brought him in at Bed Bath & Beyond two years ago, it’s quite a turnabout. The onetime star of a reality TV show that centered on turning around faltering businesses (there’s another Lemonis show now being streamed with a similar theme), he is also the head of Camping World, a chain of RV dealerships that has not shown any appreciable growth over the past two years, its stock down roughly 60 percent since December 2023. Still, that’s better than his track record running Bed Bath & Beyond—its stock price is off by about 75 percent in that same two-year period. Brand House, which has been involved one way or another with Lemonis for most of this year, has seen its share price fall about 25 percent since January.

Now the two companies will be together with an ambitious plan to turn the Kirkland’s fleet into Bed Bath & Beyond locations (it was called Bed Bath & Beyond Home for about 10 minutes before that name was shortened). The first of these converted stores opened in early November outside of Nashville, with a plan to have all locations rebranded by next summer.

While the sign over the front door is in the familiar Bed Bath & Beyond logotype and color—and those ubiquitous coupons are, of course, still in circulation—the stores bear little resemblance to the classic big-box format that the retail chain invented and thrived on for decades. These stores are significantly smaller (6,000 to about 12,000 square feet, depending on the location) with truncated assortments to match, all mostly merchandised on what had been Kirkland’s fixturing. Company executives have also talked about opening additional stores under other nameplates, including BuyBuy Baby and Overstock, the latter of which would also serve as a closeout operation and an outlet for returned goods from all stores.

Then again, there’s no saying this is what we’ll actually see—after all, this is just the latest in a dizzying sequence of events since the original Bed Bath & Beyond went out of business in the summer of 2023.

June 2023: Overstock.com buys the Bed Bath & Beyond intellectual property and a month later launches a website under that name as a replacement for the original Overstock site.

November 2023: The new entity converts its corporate name to Beyond Inc., only to see investors fire the CEO responsible for all of this and bring in Lemonis—at the time a board member—to oversee the company.

July 2024: On the heels of the exit of CEO Chandra Holt, appointed only months prior by Lemonis, he relaunches the Overstock.com business and announces an extensive list of goals for the Bed Bath & Beyond brand, including stores operated by third parties.

December 2024: Lemonis connects with Kirkland’s and The Container Store to convert some of those brands’ locations to Bed Bath & Beyond stores, or at least open shop-in-shops. The Container Store subsequently files for Chapter 11, which dashes those plans. Bed Bath & Beyond invests in Kirkland’s along the way.

February 2025: Bed Bath & Beyond purchases the BuyBuy Baby brand, once part of the original company, with plans to relaunch its website and eventually open physical stores, again through third parties.

August 2025: Lemonis changes the company name back to Bed Bath & Beyond; at around the same time, Kirkland’s adapts the Brand House corporate identity. Physical store plans continue to be expanded, including Overstock locations and dozens of Bed Bath & Beyond units.

June 2025: A full-blown conversion of Kirkland’s real estate is announced, with an end-of-2026 deadline that gets moved up to the summer.

November 2025: Lemonis announces that he is buying Brand House completely in what is being labeled a merger. The aggressive conversion plan for physical stores continues.

Retailing has always been a complicated business with lots of moving parts. But it’s safe to say few if any retailers have ever had this many parts moving in such a short time. When that Harvard Business School case study is finally written, it may chronicle a miraculous feat of corporate juggling—or tell a cautionary tale.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.