Going beyond BB&B

Williston store closing as company enters bankruptcy

BY JASON STARR Observer staff

A “now hiring” sign is hung by the parking lot. A “store closing” sign is posted at the entrance — 2023 in a nutshell.

Williston’s Bed Bath & Beyond is indeed hiring workers, but only to help sell off its inventory ahead of a planned closing of the store, which will end the 25-year run the home goods retailer had on Marshall Avenue. The store closure follows the announcement in late April of the New Jersey-based chain filing for bankruptcy protection. In its heyday, the retailer, founded in the 1970s as Bed & Bath, had over 1,000 stores. Roughly 360 stores remain.

“This past year has been among the most difficult in our company’s history,” President and CEO Sue Gove said in an April news release. The bankruptcy filing is an effort “to implement an orderly wind down of (our) businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of (our) assets,” the news release said.

Gove continued: “We deeply appreciate our associates, customers, partners and the communities we serve, and we remain steadfastly determined to serve them throughout this process.”

Items are discounted 10-30 percent, coupons are no longer accepted and all sales are final.

What happens to the

40,000-square-foot building — situated in Taft Corners roughly between Hannaford and Home Depot — is a question for J.L. Davis Inc., which built the standalone building just before the turn of the millennium specifically for Bed Bath & Beyond.

Owner Jeff Davis estimates the store will stay open through the end of June and believes the building will eventually be home to a new retailer.

“I’m pretty optimistic that there is going to be a lot of interest in the location,” Davis said. “My guess is that we’ll get a good retailer in there, but you never know.”

He noted that the store was one of Bed Bath & Beyond’s best performers.

In one project, an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) upgrade at the Champlain Valley Union High School fitness center, a lone bidder came in at more than three times what administrators had budgeted. The bidder offered to do the work for $531,000, according to a memo from Chief Operations Officer Gary Marckres to the school board’s Finance and Facilities Subcommittee. The district had budgeted $150,000.

As a result, administrators put the project on hold and plan to seek new bids in November for summer 2024 construction.

In a similar instance, the district received a bid of nearly $1 million for an HVAC project at Shelburne Community School that it had budgeted $425,000 for. That project will also be put on hold at least a year, pending new bids in November.

The purchase and installation of HVAC units for the CVU roof is also on hold to coincide with a future roof replacement. The district plans to ask voters for new borrowing authority next March for the CVU roof.

“That’s our sad story,” Marckres told subcommittee members Tuesday. “We are going to spend more money than we ever have to do this work, because it has to get done.”

District Director of Facilities Chris Giard said the lone bidder on the HVAC projects knew it was the only bidder. “That escalates the cost,” he said.

Gary Marckres Chief Operations Officer Champlain Valley School District

“There are so many school projects around the state right now that we don’t have enough people to do the work,” he continued. “The cost escalation for construction, you can’t even keep up with it … These projects are woefully underfunded.”

At Williston’s Allen Brook School, a plan to replace the fire alarm system is scheduled for summer 2024. Longer term, administrators plan to work with school board members to see CVSD page 7

Through a Families as Partners (FAP) grant, Allen Brook School has hosted members of the Jeh Kulu West African Dance and Drum Ensemble to work with students in learning and participating in West African dance and drumming. Blood

The Williston-Richmond Rotary Club hosts a Red Cross Blood Drive on Saturday,

May 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Williston Church of the Nazarene. To register, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or

Parenting workshop planned at CVU

ParentIN CVSD will host speaker Jessica Lahey, author of “The Addiction Inoculation” and “The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their

Around Town

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Children Can Succeed” in a live event at CVU on Thursday, May 25.

Lahey is a teacher, addiction expert, recovering alcoholic and mother who will share practical strategies to guide kids through challenging situations like substance abuse.

The free event will run from 7-8:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit http://parentincvsd.org.

Seeking July Fourth themes, Grand Marshal

The Williston Recreation and Parks Department is taking suggestions for a theme for this year’s Independence Day celebration and nominations for a parade Grand

Marshal. Email theme ideas and nominations by May 9 to recreation@willistonvt.org.

Nominate someone who is a positive role model and has contributed to the Williston community. Email their name and a short description of their contributions in the community and why they should be this year’s Grand Marshal.

Those looking to sponsor the event or a particular activity should email recreation@willistonvt.org.

Smoke scare causes evacuation of senior housing

The Eagle Crest senior housing development off Blair Park Road was evacuated last Wednesday as smoke from burned food emanated from an apartment and into a hallway. The smoke caused fire alarms to activate throughout the building and for the Williston Fire Department to respond as the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department covered the station.

The fire had self extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, but smoke lingered on the second floor of the building. Firefighters reminded residents that closing doors to rooms can help contain a fire and keep it from spreading rapidly.

“Closing the door to a room, apartment or home on fire can drastically slow the growth of a potentially devastating fire,” said Capt. Prescott Nadeau of the Williston Fire Department. He advised residents watch a video about the impact of a closed door at https://vimeo.com/293952932. Email pnadeau@willistonfire. com for more information.