it s the brand america loves to hate the most. cs is booming. last year it reported record sales up 53%. the success is going to continue this year. it s projecting sales up to 13%. they ve done a really good job of appealing to millennials, gen z with partnerships like post malone and bad bunny and it really reflects the people dressing more casually, wearing crocs around the house and i don t think you re going to see me wearing crocs around the house. then i spent an extra 25 bucks personalizing with the little things you plug into them. they re not cheap. they were around 40 bucks a pair? it s a solid price point. you know, it s not going to break the bank. you know, they last a good bit of time so people really like them. they re pretty ugly but good ugly, i guess. indeed. nathaniel myerson, cnn retail
control over our decisions allows us to take these necessary measures without considering short-term political factors. meanwhile, in a positive sign for inflation, they dropped 1.6% from a year ago. retailers are cutting prices for customers. looking at gas prices not expected to skyrocket this year. gas buddy says the yearly national average will drop nearly 50 cents per gallon compared to 2022. wells fargo plans to stop taking on new mortgage customers. wells fargo is one of the biggest mortgage companies for years but it has landed in trouble with regulators. last month it was slapped with a record $1.7 billion fine for harmful management practices. all right. we knew bed, bath & beyond was in trouble. now we know just how much trouble. the nathaniel myerson is here. they said last quarter in the
nathaniel myerson. i saw this coming, by the way. i ll tell my story. i want to hear your story now. we fostered a dog during the pandemic, the shelter called and said we re having trouble fostering dogs. we fostered a dog, ended up adopting the dog. then you couldn t get a dog because so many people wanted them. and the shelter said we re concerned that what s going to happen is when people realize how expensive it is, and you got to take care of dogs at work, they will be bringing the dogs back and they ll be abandoned. especially dogs because you got three. we have three. but we had two already and we fostered one and adopted a senior dog. i think that s unfortunate because what we know is that pets, especially dogs are the second most expensive pet to have. some estimates put it at $1500 initially to get a dog and another $1500 per year and anyone who has a dog, myself included, knows those costs can quickly add up between the vet bills, both routine and
seeking more cash and selling assets, but that there is substantial doubt about the company s ability to continue. and after that statement on thursday, the company s stock dropped by nearly 30%. joining us with more is cnn business reporter nathaniel myerson. so what s gone wrong at bed bath & beyond? we could be looking at a bankruptcy filing for this beloved chain, bed bath & beyond. it s really been squeezed by competition from amazon, walmart, target the past decade. you look at the recent sales numbers, in 2018 it was at about 12 billion in sales. tha that has plunged to 7.7 billion in sales last year. it was hit hard by the pandemic, bed bath & beyond had to close stores, and while it closed those stores, competitors stayed in business and more smohoppers shifted to them. i have a lot of those 20% off coupons.
would a bankruptcy filing mean for the company in particular, but the broader retail industry? bed bath & beyond has about 950 stores across the country and 30,000 employees. a bankruptcy would force it potentially to close all of these stores and have a huge impact on employees. there would be layoffs. but it would also really impact the broader retail sector. over the past few years we have seen more businesses shift to amazon and walmart. if bed bath & beyond were to close stores, that would just accelerate. and so the big would continue to get bigger while the middle and the smaller companies struggle, and that s what we ve seen over the past decade in retail. the big getting bigger and then everybody else really struggling. that s a shame because i do appreciate walking into a brick and mortar store and actually just, you know, shopping around even if i don t actually buy something. nathaniel myerson, appreciate