In a tough year, Sleepy's races to top of mattress pyramid
David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, August 17, 2009
Need more evidence of the tough year the mattress industry endured in 2008? You probably don't, but take a look anyway at our recent listing of the Top 25 Bedding Retailers.
Sales declines abound. They range from the modest — minus 0.9% for Mattress Firm — to the dramatic — a 38.7% drop for Mattress Discounters. All told, 17 of the Top 25 were in minus territory last year. That is to be expected, given the industry's 11.8% sales decline in 2008.
There were some sales gainers last year, the most notable being New York sleep shop powerhouse Sleepy's, which steamrolled into the No. 1 spot on the list, knocking Select Comfort from the spot it had held for several years. It was no contest. Sleepy's posted a 21.5% sales gain, added 76 stores, and generated 2008 bedding sales of $790 million, according to our report. Select Comfort, on the other hand, closed seven stores and continued its sales slump, watching its sales drop 24.4% to $472 million.
There has been no stopping the Sleepy's train in recent years. The company's $140 million sales gain last year is an otherworldly achievement.
Coming in third in the race was Mattress Firm, which added 65 stores last year and lost a little ground on the sales side, posting bedding sales of $463 million. Sam's Club, the warehouse club juggernaut, added 11 units, posted a marginal sales gain and moved into the No. 4 position, with bedding sales of $326 million.
The only other growth stories in the Top 10 were written by the Berkshire Hathaway furniture division, up 1%, and the America's Mattress network of Serta-supported sleep shops, up a healthy 10.9% with a net increase of 31 stores last year. It was a good year to be a Serta dealer.
There were only a couple of other success stories last year. Raymour & Flanigan, an impressive operator, remained on the ascent, posting a 3.7% sales gain and adding 13 stores. And Big Lots recorded a 6.8% sales gain, keeping that retailer a company to watch.
Some big names struggled in 2008. Sit 'n Sleep was down 15.9%, while JCPenney was off 10.7% and Rooms to Go was down 9.7%. 1800mattress.com, in its final year, saw its bedding sales drop 18.4%. Now that retailer is part of the Sleepy's empire, which will use its mattress.com domain name and 1-800-Mattress telephone network to maintain its growing ways.
The big question now: When does our industry start growing again?
Contact David Perry at dperry@reedbusiness.com
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Select Comfort remains unchallenged as No. 1
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