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Better Bedding files for Chapter 11 protection

Closes 11 of 21 stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts

David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 4, 2009

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Better Bedding, a well-respected mattress retailer based here, has filed for Chapter 11 protection and closed 11 of its 21 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The company says it will continue in business with a pared-down operation that is better equipped to handle the challenging economic climate.
The retailer blamed the current economic downturn for crippling its business, reporting that sales have been off more than 20% in the last few months.
According to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, bedding creditors with unsecured claims include Sealy, $1.1 million; Simmons, $346,000; Serta, $157,000; IBC, $47,000; Comfortaire, $35,000; and Knickerbocker, $25,000.
Tom Wholley, Better Bedding's acting president, said the company will survive. "We will emerge from this," he said. "We will wait for the hurricane to go by. We will continue with our core values of honesty and integrity."
He said Better Bedding has "a very good plan" to operate the company with 10 stores, most of them in the Hartford market.
The company has laid off about 15 employees but still has about 50 employees on the payroll, Wholley said.
Tom Wholley said his brother, John, who has been his long-time partner, is on medical leave but plans to return later this year. John and Tom Wholley appear together in ads for the company.
The company was named the Connecticut Family Business of the Year in 2004, and has also been honored by the Better Business Bureau of Connecticut. Furniture/Today named Better Bedding one of six Retail Giants of Bedding in 2006.
Better Bedding was founded in 1976 by John T. Wholley Sr., Tom and John's father. The company's tag line is "Honest advice. Low prices."

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Better Bedding files Ch. 11

Mar 9, 2009

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