Starved for a good night's sleep? If you live in Vernon Hills, you're in luck. Clustered around the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Townline Road are no fewer than 16 stores selling mattresses.You won't do badly in west suburban Geneva, where Mattress Firm, Walter E. Smithe and American Mattress all stand side by side on a busy stretch of Randall Road. How convenient: rival mattress merchants sharing the same parking lot. And along Clybourn Avenue in Lincoln Park, Mattress Firm has five locations, including two across the street from each other.Within the shrinking world of brick-and-mortar retail, with national names such as Office Depot virtually gone and Sports Authority in bankruptcy, the bedding category has distinguished itself as a robust survivor. From chain stores and department stores to furniture outlets such as Art Van and Ashley, bedroom-shopping options are everywhere.But this sector may not be robust for long. The two biggest chains—Mattress Firm and Sleepy's—merged last month in a $780 million deal.
Real estate sources say Houston-based Mattress Firm is planning to close 60 to 80 of its 230 post-merger locations in metro Chicago within the next year to maximize profit.Meantime, these stores are under attack from the Internet. Upstarts such as Tuft & Needle and Leesa are taking market share, thanks to convenience—their foam mattresses are squeezed into smallish containers and shipped free—and relatively low prices—a king-size mattress from Casper, for instance, retails for $950. Furniture Today magazine estimates that at least 1 in every 20 mattresses today is sold online. Experts are predicting that e-commerce could account for 20 percent of the mattress category, estimated at $13 billion in 2015, within a few years.“There are dozens and dozens of vendors online at Amazon now promoting mattresses,” says Ryan Trainer, president of the International Sleep Products Association in Alexandria, Va. “My daughter is 20 years old. Online is how she would buy a mattress. This is a blossoming channel right now.”
Mattress-makers are taking note. This month Tempur Sealy announced a collection called Cocoon sold only online, setting the Lexington, Ky.-based company up to compete against stores already selling the rest of its products.“There are thousands and thousands of specialty stores selling mattresses around the U.S., but there is no reason to maintain such an expensive real estate footprint,” says Philip Krim, co-founder and CEO of Casper, launched only two years ago but already the e-commerce leader after three rounds of venture funding. “This industry has a lot of old legacy costs and thinking that have to go. They haven't kept up with the times.”With its takeover of Hicksville, N.Y.-based Sleepy's and its 1,050 locations, Mattress Firm now stands as a national colossus with about 3,500 stores and annual revenue of $3.6 billion. (In 2014, Mattress Firm acquired the locally prominent Back to Bed and Bedding Experts chains.) Michael Sullivan, Mattress Firm's regional director of sales, acknowledges that some of these stores are too close together but rejects the idea of shuttering 60 to 80 stores.
Some locations might be converted to a subbrand, Mattress Final Markdown, selling clearance products, he says. Others may become a bed-in-a-box line of its own called Dream Bed, which is being tested in Chicago.Daniel Hofkin, an analyst at William Blair in Chicago, estimates that Mattress Firm lost money here in the first half of 2015. “Then in the second half, they began running advertising here and business picked up,” he says. He expects the retailer, whose stock price has been slumping, to make more acquisitions.Art Van Furniture from Detroit, which recently opened its 11th store in the Chicago market, expects to begin building its adjunct mattress-only concept, called PureSleep, in a big way soon. “We expect to have 11 PureSleep stores here in a year, but first I want to wait and see which stores Mattress Firm decides to close,” says David Van Elslander, PureSleep's president.In Glenview, Abt Electronics devotes 4,500 square feet to mattresses—a little smaller than the average Sleepy's store—with some priced above $4,000.
Geoff Imhof, Abt's general manager, predicts that Mattress Firm will drive independent bedding merchants, once common here, further to the margins. “Not many small-time retailers are left,” he says. “They'll have a tough time competing in the future.”One of the little guys is Ray Westman, franchise owner of three Verlo shops in the northwest suburbs. He says sales were up by double digits last year. “We build our own mattresses ourselves right here on the premises,” Westman says from his McHenry shop. “Our customers appreciate that kind of convenience. I still hope to open another store of my own sometime in the near future.”Save Up To 50% Off FREE LOCAL DELIVERY on all orders $399+ Insert your zip code to find the store near you Sit ‘n Sleep is the preferred bed & mattress store in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. Our network of 37 mattress superstores throughout the region has served SoCal sleepers for well over three decades. What makes Sit ‘n Sleep the best providers of mattresses in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and surrounding areas?
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