The strip mall at the corner of Westheimer and Montrose now sports two “Mattress Firm” storefronts right next door to one another, operating independently. The western Mattress Firm, on the right in the photo above, has been converted from a Mattress Pro through the subtle but definitive application of a small banner, filling the gap left by the removal of the word “Pro”. All Mattress Pro stores had until November 6th to convert signage, following a mid-September announcement that Mattress Firm would be discontinuing the subsidiary brand.
What exactly has changed? Not the Mattress Pro logo, which still bounces along in contrast to Mattress Firm’s aggressive yellow swipe. The relabeled store, now styled as a Mattress Firm: Final Markdown facility, will sell Mattress Firm products at a bargain-bin discount, while the regular Mattress Firm next door will continue to sell those products at full price.
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The Pro-to-Firm conversion has produced at least 1 other pair of directly adjacent stores (at Sienna Plantation off of Highway 6 in Missouri City). There are now at least 6 locations in and around Houston where 3 to 5 independent Mattress Firms operate within 1 mile of one another, in an already mattress-dense landscape.
Ken Murphy, COO of Mattress Firm, told Houston Matters in July that the high ratio of storefronts to consumers is actually a customer experience design feature, creating an “intimate environment” for the 5 to 7 customers that the average Mattress Firm store sees on a daily basis:
The feedback we get from customers is that having an environment [which] isn’t overrun with customers allows folks an opportunity to lay down, to really try to experience the mattress a little bit better.
Murphy also alluded to a real-estate-as-advertising marketing strategy:
Because purchasing a mattress is something that happens so infrequently in our lives, the billboards on the stores themselves — they very much do serve as a reminder for folks.
Mattress Firm CEO Steve Stagner told HBJ that the company expects markets in Houston to remain soft while oil prices remain low.
- Mattress Firm to scrap subsidiary brand, extend acquisition moratorium [Houston Business Journal]
- Why Does Houston Have So Many Mattress Stores? [Houston Matters]
- Previously on Swamplot: Now It’s 2 Mattress Stores Moving in Right Next To Each Other at the Corner of Westheimer and Montrose; Your Map to Houston Mattress Chain Stores; How and Where Mattress Firm Is Conquering Houston, One Sleepy Strip Center Storefront at a Time
Photo: Swamplot inbox
“The feedback we get from customers is that having an environment [which] isn’t overrun with customers allows folks an opportunity to lay down, to really try to experience the mattress a little bit better.”
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Pretty sure customers “lie down”, not “lay down”. Also pretty sure the COO of a mattress chain should know that.
One could only hope we’ve reached peak mattress. There are at least 4 other mattress firms in the area including one down the street on westheimer, and one down the street on montrose. I’m sure there are some smart people at mattress firm that have crunched the numbers and determined that this is a profitable strategy, but it definitely detracts from the vibrancy of the neighborhood by taking up valuable real estate in prime locations that other businesses could use. I guess it’s just the free market in action.
I’m guessing they are working on a strategy to begin opening franchises in individual homes…
Only 5 to 7 customers per day? These have GOT to be a front for something.
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OTOH, I took a look at the sponsor of the day (or yesterday, or Monday, or something), New Living, and they’ve got some nice looking organic mattresses. A bit pricey compared to my last latex mattress that I got at IKEA, but IKEA got out of mattress sales. :( Let’s see, the one I like about $5/day for one person, $2.50 per person per day for a couple, but that’s only for a year. Keep it for 5 years and it’s only a dollar a day. I might have to take another look.
Yes, @Memebag, I’m pretty sure reporters never write things down wrong. You do realize that the COO of Mattress Firm did not actually write the article, right?
Regardless, your comment consisted of two fragmented sentences. If you’re going to correct grammar, check your own. I’m pretty sure you weren’t referring to ‘pretty sure customers’ and instead you meant to say, “I’m pretty sure customers ‘lie down’, not ‘lay down’.” See how that works? The second sentence doesn’t make sense as written, either. It might be said that way in common vernacular, but you’re the one who decided to pick apart grammar. Then again, ‘lay down’ instead of ‘lie down’ is also pretty common although incorrect.
Good day, sir. Good day.
The Topic That Would Not Die.
More grist for the mattress mill merry-go-round. The perennial questions have not lost their power to engage- Free will or Determinism? If God is all-loving, why is Evil permitted to exist? Steady State or Big Bang? What is right thinking? Right practice? Toilet paper – Over or Under? Why is there a mattress store on every third corner?
I refer you to a Fellow Seeker.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3265/why-are-there-so-many-mattress-stores
Classic game theory example!