Bed Bath & Beyond is ramping up its store closings yet again, planning to slash its flagship brick-and-mortar fleet by nearly half after successfully raising more than $1 billion to avert filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Union, New Jersey-based company — parent of its namesake stores as well as Buy Buy Baby and Harmon — disclosed the expansion of its store downsizing in a regulatory filing Monday and a statement Tuesday. The update comes nearly two weeks after the retailer said it was shutting its entire beauty-goods chain, Harmon, with a total of 49 stores, as well as 87 Bed Bath & Beyond and five Buy Buy Baby locations. And that set was in addition to 150 store closings announced in August.

Now there are even more closings planned, roughly 150, according to the filing. In a separate statement on the reductions, the retailer said it had initiated "incremental store closures in its Bed Bath & Beyond banner with an ultimate operating goal of approximately 360 stores, in addition to approximately 120 Buy Buy Baby stores, across the U.S."

As of Nov. 26, the company reported it had 949 stores, including 762 Bed Bath & Beyond locations, 137 Buy Buy Baby stores and 50 Harmon stores.

But Bed Bath & Beyond got a huge and possibly life-saving financial boost Tuesday when it completed a more than $1 billion stock offering as it worked to avoid having to file for Chapter 11. Hudson Bay Capital Management was the the anchor investor of the share sale, according to Bloomberg News. That fund isn't related to HBC, the Canadian owner of retailers such as Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue. Bed Bath & Beyond declined to comment on the news report, and Hudson Bay Capital didn't immediately respond to an email seeking a comment.

With its offering, the retailer will initially receive gross proceeds of about $225 million and said it expects to get an additional $800 million in future installments.

"This transformative transaction will provide runway to execute our turnaround plan," Bed Bath & Beyond President and CEO Sue Gove said in a statement. "We are optimizing our store fleet and supply chain and continuing to invest in our omni-always capabilities. This will enable us to better serve our customers, and grow profitably, by directing merchandise where and how they want to shop with us. We are also prioritizing availability of leading national and emerging direct-to-consumer brands our customers know and love. As we make important strategic and operational changes, we will continue to take disciplined steps to enhance our cost base and improve our financial position."

Going forward, the retailer will look to better execute its inventory prioritization and distribution, "particularly across its smaller brick-and-mortar store footprint," according to Gove.

"Finally, the company has identified significant opportunities across its infrastructure and operations," Gove said. "Supply chain, technology, expense structure and business processes will continue to be streamlined as the company realigns its operational foundation. These changes will help the company strengthen business partnerships with suppliers, real estate, and service partners, who remain a priority."

Bed Bath & Beyond has been taking steps to cut its costs and stop burning cash in the wake of its sales plummeting and its losses growing last year. The company is feeling the repercussions of a strategy shift by former CEO Mark Tritton, whose plan to have the chain focus on private-label goods rather than national brands turned off shoppers. Bed Bath & Beyond was also plagued by inventory woes when weary vendors imposed stricter terms.

Last month, Bed Bath & Beyond said its financial woes could lead to it either going to bankruptcy court or to end operations. And then the company announced that it was in default because of missed interest payments on certain debt, and later missed a payment to bondholders last week.

In a regulatory filing Monday, Bed Bath & Beyond said it plans to expand its current store-fleet optimization program "to more than 400, including closure of an approximately 150 additional lower-producing Bed Bath & Beyond stores, which builds on closure of approximately 200 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and approximately 50 standalone Harmon stores in the U.S."

Diminishing its physical retail footprint is a response to "evolving shopping preferences," according to Bed Bath & Beyond, which said, "This target store base includes the company's most profitable locations and best geographic presence for customers that can enable an optimal omni-experience. The digital channel is expected to rise to a higher proportion of sales with improved channel profitability."

Bill Read, executive vice president at Retail Specialists, told CoStar News that he applauded Bed Bath & Beyond for its continuing effort to stay in business.

"They're not going to go down without kicking," Read said.

He said he expects Bed Bath & Beyond to keep stores clustered together to make distribution easier, a hub-and-spoke model, and perhaps shutter more isolated locations.

Bed Bath & Beyond said the net proceeds from its stock offering will be used immediately to repay outstanding borrowings under the company's credit facility, thereby "fulfilling conditions set forth in an amendment to the credit facility waiving defaults thereunder that was entered into concurrently with the initial closing of the offering."

The retailer said it expects to reborrow loans under its amended credit facility "to enable its strategic initiatives in fiscal 2023, which will be further supported by a realigned store footprint and cost structure."

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told CoStar News that the $1 billion in capital will be a relief for Bed Bath & Beyond but may not be a savior for the company.

"It will essentially give the funding and time they need to hold off bankruptcy, at least for now. However, it does not solve the underlying issues, nor does it put Bed Bath & Beyond on permanently stable footing," Saunders said. Hudson Bay Capital "must have its reasons for making the investment. However, given the state of Bed Bath & Beyond it does seem like a risky move that may not yield returns."

Bed Bath & Beyond last week named Holly Etlin as its interim chief financial officer. Laura Crossen, who has acted in that role since September, will resume her position as senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer. Etlin previously served as a partner at AlixPartners, a restructuring firm that was an adviser to Bed Bath & Beyond.

B. Riley Securities is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering.