Bed Bath & Beyond competitors seek to capitalize on retailer's demise

A slew of competitors are poised to fill the void left by Bed Bath & Beyond as the retailer continues to liquidate.

State of play: Walmart, Target and Dollar Tree had the most overlap with Bed Bath in terms of foot traffic, according to analytics firm Placer.ai. But they're not the only ones making moves to appeal to its customers.

Details: Etsy announced Wednesday that it's launching a wedding registry service.

• Crate & Barrel is offering to transfer wedding or baby registries from Bed Bath to its own system, the company confirmed.
• Babylist is offering registry transfers, too, while Big Lots and the Container Store have offered to accept Bed Bath's famous coupons.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: There's ample precedent of surviving retailers seeking to capitalize on the demise of their competitors.

• One recent example: After the bankruptcy filing of Toys "R" Us, but before the retailer decided to liquidate, the company accused its competitors of ramping up sales to try to put it out of business.

What to watch for: Whether any of these overlapping retailers tries to buy the Bed Bath & Beyond brand and keep it alive in some format.

• During the liquidation of bookstore chain Borders, rival Barnes & Noble bought the brand for the sole purpose of extinguishing it.
• Ever since then, Borders.com redirects to ... BarnesandNoble.com.