Wholleys built Better Bedding with foundation of integrity
David Perry, Executive Editor -- Furniture Today, May 24, 2010
Better Bedding, the East Hartford, Conn.-based sleep shop chain recently sold to Sleepy's, deserved a better fate than it received.
The sale to Sleepy's took the founding Wholley family, a name synonymous with integrity and professionalism, out of the business the family founded back in 1976. And that is a shame, because the Wholleys ran a first-rate business and did an excellent job of meeting their customers' needs for many years.
We were so impressed with Better Bedding that we named them one of our inaugural Retail Giants of Bedding five years ago when we launched that program.
Like many retailers, Better Bedding suffered during the industry's downturn. It filed for Chapter 11 protection last year, returned to profitability, and made a bid to emerge from bankruptcy protection later this year. The creditors committee, headed by longtime supplier Sealy, signaled its support for that plan.
But then, according to court documents filed in connection with the case, Hicksville, N.Y.-based Sleepy's, the nation's largest bedding retailer, which competes with Better Bedding, made its own offer, promising earlier payment to the creditors.
The Wholley family objected to a sale to Sleepy's, but the creditors committee recommended the sale, and the court agreed. And that, sadly, marked the end of the Wholley family's involvement with Better Bedding.
Sealy's representative on the creditors committee, senior vice president and general counsel Mike Murray, referred to “this very unfortunate situation” at Better Bedding and said the bankruptcy process was a “very difficult” one. He said the creditors committee fulfilled its fiduciary obligation to the creditors.
The fact is that once Better Bedding went into bankruptcy its future was uncertain. Sleepy's was not sleepy about moving to acquire the company. And it got its way, as it usually does.
The Wholley brothers — John and Tom, the faces of the business for many years — aren't saying what they think about the chain of events that led to the sale to Sleepy's, but it had to be a major disappointment to them. They thought they would be able to bring the company out of bankruptcy and continue running the family's business. But it was not to be.
And so ends, for the time being, the Wholley family's long commitment to the mattress industry. Thanks to John and Tom Wholley for making ours a better industry by the way they ran Better Bedding successfully for many years.
Contact David Perry at dperry@reedbusiness.com
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Sleepy's has Better Bedding up and running
May 24, 2010 -
Sleepy's operates stores under Better Bedding name
May 14, 2010
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