Carls opens first mattress specialty store

Venture is a test for furniture retailer

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 10, 2009

STUART, Fla. — Top 100 furniture store Carls has carved out space in its 34,000-square-foot showroom here for its first bedding specialty store.

The 4,000-square-foot Carls Mattress Superstore - attached to the main showroom but with a separate entrance - features a broad line of Sealy and Stearns & Foster bedding.

It's a test, said Jeff Baker, president of the Coconut Creek, Fla.-based company. If successful, the retailer plans to roll it out to its other eight stores and possibly open standalone stores in areas too small to justify full-line showrooms.

The bedding specialty store has had a soft opening and will grand open Jan. 1, he said. Queen sets start at $599 and go up to about $3,500 for a set from Stearns & Foster. Baker said he believes the new concept with help Carls better compete with dedicated beddings retailers.

"By having a separate entrance, the customer who wants to buy bedding will think of Carls," he said.

Even though the retailer has carried a strong selection from Sealy and Stearns in about 2,500-square-feet of space in the store, the larger dedicated stores with exterior signage will further the consumer perception that Carls is an important player in the bedding arena, he added.

The bedding store also will have a separate sales staff, he said.

Baker said there is no timetable for expansion of the concept, but if it proves successful, the rollout to the other Carls stores could happen quickly.