Mon 21 Dec 2009
Mattress Stores Won’t Survive Much Longer
Posted by RichSlick under Observations
[2] Comments
One of the things that has always perplexed me is why bedding is so expensive. I can understand paying more for technological innovation such as the visco-elastic beds (which I own) but the simple box, padding and springs costing $700 and more never made any sense. I can name a hundred things that do a hundred things (cell phones, computers, DVD’s, remoted controlled fans & heaters, etc) more that cost so little that it doesn’t make sense to pay $600+ for a box with padding.
So my daughter wanted a new bed for Christmas and we went to a few of the stores to check out mattresses and the CHEAPEST bed the mattress firms had just for the mattress (box not included) was over $300. After going to a couple of the big mattress stores we ended up at Costco to find the perfect bed for $399 (box included). Costco seemed to have the most reasonable prices for bedding given the quality factor and my daughter loves her new bed!
It was interesting that one of the mattress stores we visited was nearly cleaned out. We asked the guy what happened and he said their lease was running out and they weren’t renewing -they were going to shut the store down!
After thinking about it for a while, it made sense that these mattress firms aren’t going to survive for much longer. There needs to be some fundamental element of improvement or value add to these expensive padded rectangles that the stores have been selling.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I agree that bedding is incredibly overpriced, though I’m having a tough time seeing from your post what you think would replace it. Costco may be cheap but is not really available to most people either b/c its not in their neighborhood or they aren’t members.
Buying secondhand mattresses is very problematic due to the rise in bed bugs and the fact that supposed cleaning treatments don’t actually kill them. I’m one of the cheapest people I know and I would never buy a second-hand mattress.
Buying off the internet might be one option, but a lot of people won’t do this, because they like to test out the mattress first to make sure they aren’t buying something awful.
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I think once Costco starts making some decent cash, other retailers like Wal-mart, Target, etc might follow to imitate and firms like Mattress Firm or Mattress Giant won’t survive.
The mattress business model has long been broken and I think this recession will finish them off but who knows….