Sleep Train keeps growth engine stoked
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 26, 2006
Citrus Heights, Calif. — All aboard the Sleep Train!
One of the nation's largest independently owned sleep shops, which posted sales of more than $200 million last year, Sleep Train is chugging along powerfully. The train has been picking up bedding retailers — and momentum — as it has steered a steady course through the bedding landscape.
Consumers are invited to climb aboard the train with a catchy slogan: "Your ticket to a better night's sleep."
Dale Carlsen, 44, is the conductor of this train, which he has been running for 21 years. The company reflects his customer-focused approach to the business, which includes a serious commitment to supporting the communities where the Sleep Train does business.
Carlsen founded Sleep Train in 1985, building on a single year of experience as a sales manager with California Mattress, a Sacramento-based bedding producer. The seeds for the concept of opening a service-oriented bedding retailer took shape as Carlsen called on bedding retailers and gave them ideas on how to improve their business.
Like any young man (he was 23 at the time) should, Carlsen described his plans to his father, a CPA. But Dad didn't think as much of the idea as the son.
Carlsen went ahead anyway, although he waited until his father was out of the country on a two-week vacation to open his first store, which he called Sleep Train.
He spent some time pondering what to call his company. " 'Dale's Mattress Store' wasn't a great name," Carlsen told the Sacramento Bee, which ran a flattering profile of Carlsen last fall. 'Mattress Train' didn't work, so I thought, 'Sleep Train,' and then, 'Your ticket to a better night's sleep.' It just rolled out."
And the company has rolled ahead ever since.
It currently operates 123 stores under three names: Sleep Train, Mattress Discounters (it purchased those West Coast stores in 2003), and Boxcar Bedding. The Boxcar stores, which carry promotional bedding, serve as clearance centers.
The train motif carries over to the ubiquitous advertising. The radio spots feature the shriek of a train whistle, and someone who sounds quite a bit like Rush Limbaugh. In fact, it is Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh was a local radio personality in Sacramento back in the mid-1980s when Carlsen turned to him to talk up his company, the Sacramento Bee story reported. Although Limbaugh went on to bigger horizons, he continues to do Sleep Train radio commercials to this day.
"The people you meet on the way up are the people you meet on the way down," Limbaugh told Carlsen before he left town. "I'll always take care of you."
Giving back to the community
That's the kind of spirit that drives Carlsen in his own business dealings. Sleep Train spells out its company philosophy on its Web site, where it devotes a page to the topic.
"Sleep Train believes in giving back to the communities where we do business," the Web site says. "Our customers are the people that make our success possible. Every aspect of our business revolves around the needs and wants of our customers. Because of this commitment, Sleep Train believes that giving to the greater community is not only a business benefit, but a requirement."
Those are not idle words. Each year, the retailer donates thousands of "new, supportive" beds to its own charitable cause, Mattresses 4 Kids. Those beds are given to "at risk" kids. The retailer also supports a number of other groups, including the Boys & Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement and Big Brothers & Big Sisters.
Sleep Train also spells out its commitment to its customers. Carlsen puts it like this: "It is my belief that people want to be treated with respect, want their questions answered honestly, and want to feel secure in knowing that if they should have a problem, they will be taken care of ... hassle free." The goal: "Treat a customer right and you will earn a customer for life."
Vast selection plus same-day delivery
Sleep Train says that its size — it's the largest bedding retailer on the West Coast — enables it to offer better products and selection with better prices and service. It touts a "we'll beat anyone's price by 5%" policy, and offers same-day delivery on in-stock products purchased by 2 p.m. The lineup includes Sealy, Simmons, Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic and Select Comfort's Sleep Number bed.
In a statement on its Web site, Sleep Train invites its customers to compare its beds with the competition: "If a retailer is confident in their products and prices, they will post the manufacturer specifications on each product, as well as their best offering price and not an inflated 'regular price' so that you can compare for yourself..."
That sums up Sleep Train's straightforward approach to its customers. It's one that has more and more West Coast consumers climbing aboard the Sleep Train.
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Sleep Train keeps growth engine stoked
Mar 30, 2006
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