OT, whats with all these mattress stores?

[Cicli]

I can occupy my kids time in the car counting them along the road. One on every corner. How do they stay in business?

[rzthomas]

Combination of high margins, low operating costs, and lucrative financing schemes.

[Ken Robb]

yep

[josephr]

my brother is a huge costco guy....he was talking about buying a mattress from one of those shops....i asked him why not costco? he just didn't know they sold mattresses.....

i'm with you though...no idea how many mattresses it takes to keep a mattress shop open....also, the number of sub sandwich shops is unsettling.

[carpediemracing]

A long time ago when I had a shop there was a mattress store nearby. I think they paid $9k in rent monthly, in the late 80s to late 90s. My understanding was that the margins on a mattress was in the 70-80% range, meaning when you bought a $1000 mattress the store was making something like $700-800. That might have been an exaggeration but a car dealer colleague used to sell mattresses and said it was much more lucrative than selling cars (he quit selling cars).

[jimcav]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

A long time ago when I had a shop there was a mattress store nearby. I think they paid $9k in rent monthly, in the late 80s to late 90s. My understanding was that the margins on a mattress was in the 70-80% range, meaning when you bought a $1000 mattress the store was making something like $700-800. That might have been an exaggeration but a car dealer colleague used to sell mattresses and said it was much more lucrative than selling cars (he quit selling cars).

nm

[El Chaba]

...and the bedbug epidemic....

[ripvanrando]

When they take away your old mattress, don't they just recycle them? New covers?

Charles Rogers mattresses. Direct from the factory. Made the old fashioned way and in the USA. The Best.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

A long time ago when I had a shop there was a mattress store nearby. I think they paid $9k in rent monthly, in the late 80s to late 90s. My understanding was that the margins on a mattress was in the 70-80% range, meaning when you bought a $1000 mattress the store was making something like $700-800. That might have been an exaggeration but a car dealer colleague used to sell mattresses and said it was much more lucrative than selling cars (he quit selling cars).

That's just the markup % not gross margin. I think that's closer to 30-40% which is okay but what others have mentioned it's the financing that makes them the loot.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by charliedid

That's just the markup % not gross margin. I think that's closer to 30-40% which is okay but what others have mentioned it's the financing that makes them the loot.

They say that the next financial crisis always begins somewhere that people are not looking. Even money bet that the mattress backed subprime loans are the next tipping point.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

They say that the next financial crisis always begins somewhere that people are not looking. Even money bet that the mattress backed subprime loans are the next tipping point.

Mattress bubble. Weird

[charliedid]

I managed a number of apartments for about 14 years. People commonly discarded what seemed to be perfectly good (if cheapish) mattresses all the time. They seem to be consumables at this point.

I'm 53 years old and have only had 3 mattresses (at least in a primary home) in my adult life.

[fignon's barber]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

...and the bedbug epidemic....

This. The average mattress is 15 years old. At that point, it consists of about 80% bedbug/dead skin/sweat/bacteria combo. You can finance a new one over 4 years like a new car. No Brainer

[brownhound]

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

[bthornt]

A comparison of online mattress prices (bed in a box, saatva, eluxury, and so on) and brick and morter mattress prices makes it pretty obvious how they stay in business. I bought a king size mattress online through bed in a box, paid slightly more than $1000. Incidentally, the best mattress I have ever purchased. Similar mattress at mattress firm was thousands of dollars more.