1800Mattress Plans 40 Stores In Washington, D.C.

October 13, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on October 2008 Bedding retailer 1800mattress.com announced Monday that it plans to open 40 stores in Washington, D.C., and surrounding suburbs over the next 18 months.

The Long Island City, N.Y.-based Internet and store-based retailer, which has 45 locations, said it hired industry veteran Ken Mazda to lead the expansion. Mazda built Nationwide Discount Sleep Centers into a 60-store chain in the Philadelphia area before selling it in 1999. 1800mattress.com, which already operates three stores and a warehouse near Washington, has signed leases to open five stores in the next 60 days.

“The mattress retailing dynamics of the Washington market, particularly in some of its Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs, are changing dramatically, and there is an exciting opportunity for us to expand market share in a smart way,” Mazda said.

Joe Vicens, executive vice president of national sales, said 1800mattress.com can open retail locations efficiently because of a multi-pronged retail strategy that enables it to sell via the telephone and the Internet when most retailers are closed.

“Mattress retailing is not like operating a Starbuck’s or CVS where you need a retail location every few feet for the consumer to stumble into,” Vicens said. “Increasingly the mattress-purchasing process is multi-faceted. A customer typically calls our 800 number or searches the Internet or maybe chats on-line with one of our trained bedding consultants. They use the retail showroom if they want to see and touch the mattress only.”