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BED BATH & BEYOND 2009 ANNUAL REPORT
1
To Our Fellow Shareholders: Continued from front cover
As a result of the efforts of all our associates, the following are some highlights from fiscal 2009, our 39th year
of operations and 18th as a public company:
•฀฀Net฀earnings฀for฀the฀scal฀year฀ended฀February฀27,฀2010฀were฀$2.30฀per฀diluted฀share,฀an฀increase฀
of฀approximately฀40%฀compared฀with฀net฀earnings฀per฀diluted฀share฀of฀$1.64฀for฀the฀prior฀year.฀
•฀฀Net฀sales฀for฀scal฀2009฀were฀approximately฀$7.8฀billion,฀an฀increase฀of฀approximately฀8.6%฀
from฀the฀prior฀year’s฀sales฀of฀$7.2฀billion.
•฀Comparable฀store฀sales฀for฀scal฀2009฀increased฀by฀approximately฀4.4%.
•฀Cash฀and฀cash฀equivalents฀and฀investment฀securities฀increased฀by฀86%฀to฀approximately฀$1.7฀billion.
•฀Capital฀expenditures฀for฀the฀year฀were฀approximately฀$154฀million.
•฀Over฀$750฀million฀in฀Free฀Cash฀Flow฀was฀generated.
While we are justifiably proud of our accomplishments during the past year, we remain mindful of keeping
them in the proper perspective. Although the economy has shown signs of improvement, economic uncertainty,
high unemployment, low consumer confidence and a marked slowdown in housing activity persist. Despite these
conditions, while we are pleased with our results, we continue to believe that we can improve every aspect
of our business.
Never being satisfied in good or difficult times is at the heart of our culture and one of our Company’s
greatest strengths. Our strong financial position permits us to continue to test new merchandise initiatives
throughout our stores, as well as to expand, renovate, remodel and/or relocate stores as we strive to increase their
productivity. Through our ongoing efforts to cross-merchandise and leverage our best practices throughout our
Company, we expect over time to heighten the consumer response to our offerings.
Our fundamental business strategy has remained unchanged: to offer a broad assortment of merchandise at
everyday low prices with superior customer service. As we do so, we continue to systematically challenge the
costs associated with running our Company, while remaining committed to making the required investments to
position the Company for our ongoing success.
During fiscal 2009 we added 67 new stores consisting of 14 buybuy Baby stores, 5 Harmon Face Values stores,
9 Christmas Tree Shops stores, and 39 Bed Bath & Beyond stores throughout the United States and Canada. We also
added additional Harmon Face Values and Fine Tabletop and Giftware departments in existing stores. At fiscal year
end we operated 1,100 stores consisting of 29 buybuy Baby stores, 45 stores under the name of Harmon or Harmon
Face Values, 61 Christmas Tree Shops stores, and 965 Bed Bath & Beyond stores in 49 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada. We look forward to entering our 50th state this summer with the opening of
our first Bed Bath & Beyond store in Hawaii. In addition, we are a partner in a joint venture which operates
two stores in the Mexico City market under the name “Home & More.”
As we noted at the outset, the success of our Company is due to the dedication of our over 41,000 associates and
to our unique decentralized culture. This culture, which takes advantage of the knowledge, independence and