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Bed Bath & Beyond’s Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis announced Wednesday that the company will not open or operate retail stores in California, citing high costs and heavy regulation as reasons for the decision.
In a statement posted on X, Lemonis said the move was not motivated by politics but by the company’s need to remain financially viable.
“California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America,” Lemonis wrote.
He explained that higher taxes, higher fees, higher wages, and “endless regulations that strangle growth” made it impossible for the company to sustain operations in the state.
Lemonis added that California’s budget surpluses are being built at the expense of “ordinary citizens who are paying too much and businesses who are squeezed until they break.”
He said the company would not participate in what he described as a system that undermines both customers and shareholders.