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Venture sells bedding in Wal-Marts

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 2, 2007

Greenville, S.C. — The principals of Park Place Corp. have launched a new bedding company called Mattress Works that has begun selling its mattress line in Wal-Mart Super Centers.

The first three independently operated sleep shops are in Wal-Mart Super Centers in South Carolina, where third-generation bedding maker Park Place is headquartered.

The Mattress Works line, retailing from $299 to $1,299, includes traditional innerspring and memory foam models. It is sold in "vestibule" space at the front of Wal-Mart stores acquired through a master lease with Wal-Mart.

Mattress Works officials said the program has considerable growth potential but declined to estimate how many stores will open. They described the program as offering "a new dimension in mattress retailing," which will be national in scope. The initial rollout will be on the East Coast.

The program targets Wal-Mart Super Centers, which typically attract 40,000 customers per week.

Mattress Works sleep shops offer "a full-service mattress shopping experience," said David Karr, CEO of Mattress Works, who also is chief financial officer of Park Place and president of Park Place's airbed company, Comfortaire.

That experience includes knowledgeable sleep consultants, a value-priced line and services like layaway, financing, home delivery and removal of old bedding, Karr said.

Here's how the program works: Mattress Works, which has signed a supply agreement with Park Place, is looking for Park Place customers who are interested in becoming "operating partners" in the program, who would own and operate Mattress Works units in markets served by Wal-Mart Super Centers.

Chad Hill, who runs Spencer's Mattress in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is the operating partner for the Mattress Works in the Wal-Mart Super Center in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

"I am very excited to be a part of Mattress Works," Hill said. "My sales volume is going as expected, and the daily traffic through my store is unbelievable. Even though we are very early in the game, I am already making plans to accelerate the growth of this business."

That Mattress Works store has been open for about a month. The two other units now open are in North Charleston and Travelers Rest, just outside Greenville.

The logo for Mattress Works has echoes of the American flag and features red and blue lettering. It includes the tag line: "Work hard, sleep easy."

Jimmy Orders, president of Park Place and a partner in the new Mattress Works venture, said Mattress Works represents "an all-American mattress program," one that should resonate with Wal-Mart customers.

Edwin Shoffner, chief operating officer of Mattress Works and a vice president with Park Place, was involved in an earlier company, American Mattress Centers, which also sold mattresses at Wal-Mart. He and a partner launched the venture in 2001 and were operating more than 100 bedding departments in leased space in Wal-Mart stores within a year, but the company ran into financial difficulties and liquidated in 2002.

Shoffner said Park Place officials learned valuable lessons from the earlier program and have a different strategy with Mattress Works, relying on local retailers to operate the bedding departments.

The Mattress Works locations will occupy footprints of 450 to 1,150 square feet at the front of Wal-Mart Super Center stores. Wal-Mart leases that space to a variety of companies.

The first three Mattress Works sleep shops carry eight or nine beds.

Mattress Works, a management and marketing company, is owned by Jimmy, David and John Orders, all members of Park Place's founding family, and by Karr, Shoffner and Darrell Miller, vice president of operations at Park Place. The six are equal owners.

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New venture sells bedding in Wal-Marts

Sep 14, 2007

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