Mattress Firm, the Houston-based specialty mattress retailer, wants to close eight of its 30 stores in Minnesota.
On the proposed store closing list of 604 locations it has submitted for bankruptcy court approval are locations in Blaine, St. Cloud, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Roseville, Willmar, Woodbury and the Minneapolis store at 2224 Hennepin Av.
Mattress Firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 5. Under Chapter 11, companies go through a court-ordered restructuring of their business. The privately held company filed a prepackaged plan of reorganization with the Bankruptcy Court of Delaware that included plans to close 700 of its more than 3,000 stores.
The company is working with a specialty commercial real estate company, A&G Realty Partners, based in Melville, N.Y., which helps companies with lease restructurings and modifications, optimization of retail property portfolios and asset disposition for national retail chains among other services.
It is more or less business as usual for customers. Answers to customers' most frequently asked questions regarding the restructuring are available on the company website.
Competition has been increasing in the mattress industry as some other traditional and online mattress manufacturers embrace traditional store locations in part to mimic the success of Minneapolis-based Sleep Number Corp.
During last week's conference call regarding Sleep Number's third-quarter results, President and CEO Shelly Ibach told analysts that Sleep Number would have 580 of its own stores by the end of the year.
"We are also opportunistically adding stores in certain markets affected by competitor closures," she said.
Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926
