A mile down Craycroft Road from Bobby Boido’s small retail store, the competition is multiplying.
On or near all four corners at the intersection of Craycroft and Broadway, there are now Mattress Firm stores.
This week at that intersection, two stores that were called Mattress Pro, an offshoot of the same company, are converting to the Mattress Firm name. Also at that corner are a Sleep Number store and a furniture store that sells mattresses.
A mile east of Boido’s mattress store, which is at Speedway and Craycroft, there is another Mattress Firm. Two and a half miles west, a new Mattress Firm has opened near Whole Foods at Speedway and Country Club.
In all, the nationwide retailer now has 37 stores in the Tucson area, seemingly saturating the market.
So what is a small-time, local mattress manufacturer and retailer to do? For one, Boido and his son Bobby decided to change the name of their store.
The business founded as A-1 Mattress 38 years ago so it would be the first listing seen in the phone book. It is now calling itself Organic Sleep Systems, at least on the retail side. The mattress factory down on West 29th Street in South Tucson is keeping the A-1 name.
I told Boido that I get the idea of organic foods, but organic mattresses? He told me a 2007 regulation requiring that mattresses be fire retardant led to chemicals being put on mattresses that irritate or sicken some people. His company can cater to people with chemical sensitivity, using latex foam, organic wool and organic cotton.
When his son attended a business seminar, he was told the name A-1 is too old-fashioned. Hence, A-1 Mattress at 5470 E. Speedway rebranded itself as Organic Sleep Systems last month. Their hope is to expand, maybe to Oro Valley and Sahuarita, but not right now.
“Everybody I see says, ‘What’s with all these mattress companies?’ ” Boido said. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”
Much of Tucson is seeing the same thing — a Mattress Firm seemingly on every significant corner — and asking the same question.
That includes Nancy McClure, a longtime local real estate broker at CBRE who has represented landlords who have leased to Mattress Firm.
“They typically are going for really high-profile, prominent spaces,” she said. Of Mattress firm: “They pay really good rents and their financials look solid.”
But are they solid enough for this kind of growth? In April, the Star reported that much of Mattress Firm’s growth here is due to buying the BedMart and Sleep America chains, which created some of the duplication at individual corners. Nevertheless, the company has continued to expand.
Here’s how Casey Zuber, Mattress Firm’s director of communications, explained the proliferation of stores in an email to me Tuesday.
“In order to keep Mattress Firm top-of-mind when it’s time to buy, we invest in real estate in highly-trafficked intersections and shopping centers to make getting a good night’s rest as accessible, convenient and immediate as possible. Sometimes that means having stores in close proximity, as seen in the Tucson area.
“The growth has been good for business in the Tucson area; however, we will likely steady the pace of growth over the next few months,” she added.
Seems like slowing down would be a good plan.
“Like I was telling my accountant,” Boido said, “you can only put so much air in a balloon before it pops.”
Something akin to that popping occurred on Sept. 11. That day, Mattress Firm reported quarterly earnings of 67 cents per share, which was a solid increase but well below expectations of Wall Street analysts, who’ve watched the company scoop up other companies. The stock dropped by 23 percent to about $46 per share that day and remains about that price now.
One of the company’s key increased costs was the increasing number of stores the company had to support, as they reported Sept. 11. Lease-related costs rose about 64 percent to $91.2 million compared to the same quarter the previous year.
For a small retailer such as Organic Sleep Systems, the proliferation of Mattress Firm stores has been a net negative — reducing sales somewhat. But it also has a positive effect, Boido said.
“There is such a saturation of advertising it keeps the water stirred,” he said.
Boido doesn’t say, as Mattress Firm claims, that you should replace your mattress every eight years. But the regular reminders that maybe you would sleep better if you have a new mattress could help his company over the long run.
In the meantime, the company easily keeps eight workers busy, mostly in its small South Tucson factory. Orders from institutions like the University of Arizona, the Veterans Administration, assisted-living facilities and group homes mean they’re constantly making mattresses of all different levels, from the most basic to the most organic and chemical-free pillowtops.
“We like the retail end of it. Our plans are to expand,” Boido told me. But he added, “I’m not looking to saturate the market.”
