Bed, Bath and Beyond 2004 Annual Report Download - page 1

2004 Annual Report • Notice of Annual Meeting • Proxy Statement
To Our Fellow Shareholders:
Through hard work, good fortune and a relentless focus on our customer, we have enjoyed great success
over the past thirty-four years. For that we are thankful. We have also learned that keeping our focus on
the customer isn’t only about merchandise and service. Sometimes, taken just one step further, we can do
things with and for our customers that serve not only them, but others in our community as well. For
example:
• Responding to a specific customer request this past year, we offered our customers an opportunity
to truly “Support Our Troops” through the purchase of magnetic ribbons, and through this effort we
have raised over $400,000 for the United Service Organizations (www.uso.org).
• We have partnered with the National Women’s Health Resource Center, a non-profit, independent
organization dedicated to educating women about their health (www.healthywomen.org), and we
have become a member of its Corporate Advisory Board. Together, we are planning informational
programs for our stores and website, and we are sponsoring various educational events at certain
women’s tennis tournaments on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, all so as to heighten the awareness of
women’s health and wellness among our customers and the public. Hopefully we can play a role in
encouraging women of all ages to embrace a healthy, active lifestyle.
In these undertakings, as in all things, we are enormously grateful to our associates, who throw themselves
into whatever is placed before them with confidence, enthusiasm and ability. If we have made one
customer happy, if we have touched the life of one soldier or encouraged one woman to a more serious
consideration of her and her family’s health, it should be credited to our people. We’ve always said it,
and it remains true.
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