Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Sleepy's for the rest of your retail life



A Sleepy's opened back in December at 111 Third Ave. near East 14th St.

At first glance, it's really not exciting retail news. Or is it?

Uh, anyway, Bloomberg Business had a post on Sleepy's yesterday. The Long Island-based company has 32 locations in Manhattan alone … which, as Bloomberg points out, is more than than the Gap (13), Whole Foods (7) and Best Buy (6) combined.

Per Bloomberg: "That's no mean feat, considering that the average American replaces a mattress only once every 10 years."

How do they succeed? Well, you have to watch the video report for the answer… but basically Sleepy's enjoys 50 percent profit margins… with minimal risk (low inventory) and flexible location opportunities (Sleepy's doesn't need prime window-shopping real estate, and will do fine on a second-floor spot).

Of course Sleepy's isn't completely bulletproof. The location at 138 Delancey closed last August.

That storefront between Norfolk and Suffolk remains on the market….

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

*yawn*

Anonymous said...

I frequently take naps there.

Naranja said...

What about all the bedbug stories I hear? People buy mattresses, then they return them and they're infested, or they get infested from touching other mattresses in the truck.

Anonymous said...

Delancey Street store is still open for business, just has a lease sign in it.

moe said...

Part of their success is due to their clever scam that they will beat any price on any model mattress in the store. In fact every mattress in the store is labelled especially for their chain. So they never have to worry about be undersold on their 'DELUXE VELVET CLOUD' model, as it exists nowhere else.
Well actually it does exist elsewhere, but under a different name.

nygrump said...

You probably haven;t heard, but they are probably having a sale today. and tomorrow. And the next day. and the weekend. and then the held over presidents Day sale will take place. before the PRe-St Pats Day sale. Or is it the ash wednesday sale...

Anonymous said...

moe - That "scam" is an industry-wide practice that includes just about every other mattress retailer in the country. It's absurd, but not limited to Sleepy's.

Anonymous said...

Sleep on the floor. It's better for your back.

Anonymous said...

Im sure the guys at the bowery mission sleeping on the floor feel the same way.