Mattress Firm files for bankruptcy

Mattress Firm’s large
fleet of stores has come under scrutiny in recent
years.
Business Insider/Mary
Hanbury

• Mattress
  Firm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
  it said in a press release Friday. 
• As part of its bankruptcy restructuring, Mattress Firm
  could close as many as 700 stores. 
• It is the largest specialty mattress retailer in the
  United States, with around 3,400
  stores. Mattress Firm
  has 
  increasingly come under pressure as
  new startups such as Casper
  innovate the experience of mattress shopping and take market
  share.
• Last October, Mattress Firm
  filed a lawsuit against two former employees, a broker, and
  a group of developers, accusing them of conspiring to push the
  company to aggressively expand.

Mattress Firm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it
said in a
press release Friday. 

It has been an eventful few months for the company. In the span
of a year, it has been accused by internet sleuths of running
a money-laundering
operation, announced it would be closing almost

200 stores, and watched on as its parent company’s business
practices have been investigated. 

With 3,400
stores, it is the largest specialty mattress retailer in the
US and has increasingly come under pressure as new startups
such as Casper
innovate the experience of mattress shopping and take market
share. 

As part of its bankruptcy restructuring, Mattress Firm
could close as many as 700 stores. 

“The process we have initiated today will allow us to
strengthen our balance sheet and accelerate the optimization of
our store portfolio,” Mattress Firm CEO Steve Stagner said in a
statement.

“Leading up to the holiday shopping season, we will exit up
to 700 stores in certain markets where we have too many locations
in close proximity to each other. We intend to use the additional
liquidity from these actions to improve our product offering,
provide greater value to our customers, open new stores in new
markets, and strategically expand in existing markets where we
see the greatest opportunities to serve our customers.”

Last October, Mattress Firm filed
a lawsuit against two former employees, a broker, and a
group of developers, accusing them of conspiring to push the
company to
aggressively expand and open stores.

Reports that the mattress retailer was considering filing
for bankruptcy
surfaced in August.