Lang set to launch sleep chain in Detroit
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2002
DALLAS — DALLAS — Veteran bedding retailer Phil Lang is launching a new bedding chain called The Mattress Mall, which will debut in Detroit later this spring.
"We are planning for 16 stores in Detroit," said Lang, former president of Mattress Giant, a major sleep specialty chain. "We have our fingers crossed that we will have a couple of stores open by Memorial Day, and five or six by Labor Day."
After Detroit gets rolling, "we then plan on taking it to a national platform," he said.
Lang has no plans to compete against Mattress Giant. "I still retain ownership in Mattress Giant," he said. In metro Detroit, he'll be going up against Top 100 powerhouse Art Van, the southern Michigan chain which does a big bedding business.
The Mattress Mall, which Lang said will offer "upscale-looking stores," will carry bedding by Simmons, Serta, Spring Air, Chattam & Wells and IBC.
Lang is chief executive officer of the new company. He said a president will be named in the next few weeks. Lang lives in Dallas and will commute to Detroit.
"I have never been as excited in my life," he said. "This is what I love." His new company "will not be a leveraged business," he said.
During his tenure at Mattress Giant, that retailer grew from 43 stores to about 240. "I built Mattress Giant on relationships with real estate people and vendors," Lang said. "Those relationships are continuing with my new venture."
Lang said he picked the metro Detroit market for the launch of his new chain because "it is a great area with good incomes, and it is booming."
The Mattress Mall will have locations near malls, Lang said.
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