The nation’s largest specialty mattress and bedding company will have some rough nights ahead.
Mattress Firm Inc. said it will close up to 700 retail stores nationwide after filing for bankruptcy Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The closures will start with around 200 stores over the next few days.
The company has dozens of locations in Miami, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Mattress Firm will still have more than 2,000 locations left. CEO Steve Stagner said the company is closing stores in markets where it has “too many locations in close proximity to each other.” The decision to enter bankruptcy was made to pay off creditors. It’s two largest debts are $64.7 million to Simmons Manufacturing Company, and $25.5 million to Serta Mattress Company.
The bankruptcy follows an aggressive and failed nationwide expansion. The Houston company sued former employees and Colliers International in 2017 for pushing the brand into more expensive locations to enrich themselves.
The closures aren’t good news for Mattress Firm’s landlords either. The company leased many of its spaces in mall properties, which continue to get battered by e-commerce rivals.
Toys “R” Us is another major retailer with with hundreds of stores to go under. The company filed for bankruptcy late last year and more recently hired Raider Hill Advisors in July to sell off 284 properties around the country. Earlier this week, Raider Hill brought on JLL to manage most of those properties.
Like other retailers, Mattress Firm is facing stiff competition from online-based companies. In the mattress world that includes Casper, Leesa, and Zinus. [Wall Street Journal] — Dennis Lynch