Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is increasing the number of stores it expects to shutter in the fiscal year.

The New Jersey-based home goods retailer, which also operates buybuy Baby, Harmon Face Values and World Market, says it will close 60 stores in the fiscal year across the company, up 20 from the April estimate of 40 stores.

Most of the closings are expected after the holiday shopping season in early 2020, company officials said during a quarterly earnings call Wednesday. The company's fiscal year typically ends in early March.

Forty of the stores closing will be Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 20 will be stores in the company's other concepts, interim CEO Mary Winston said during the call.

“With this action we are increasing the profitability of our remaining portfolio and believe that our remaining fleet will benefit from our renewed focus on driving traffic and operating efficiency,” Winston said, adding the "fleet optimization" will “create a better balance between our physical and digital presence within the markets we serve.”

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As of the end of August, the company had 1,534 stores, including 993 Bed Bath & Beyond stores nationwide and in Canada, 277 stores under the names of World Market, Cost Plus World Market or Cost Plus, 126 buybuy Baby stores, 81 stores under the names Christmas Tree Shops, Christmas Tree Shops andThat! or andThat!, and 55 stores under the names Harmon, Harmon Face Values or Face Values.

Winston said there are plans to renegotiate all leases and said that “$350 million of inventory at retail will be removed from stores before the 2019 holiday season” through a series of markdowns and clearance events.

According to global marketing research firm Coresight Research, across the retail sector, nearly 8,600 store closures have been announced so far this year, up from around 5,900 closings in 2018.

The "going-out-of-business" sales and liquidation of other brands is expected to continue. Coresight estimates closures could reach 12,000 by the end of the year.

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