Jim McIngvale

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Jim McIngvale (also known as Mattress Mack) was born on February 11, 1951 in Starkville, Mississippi. He is a Houston businessman, who through selling mattresses and furniture, built Gallery Furniture^[1]. Gallery Furniture is one of the largest home furnishing retail stores in the United States. Mack's store is well known for its promise of same day delivery. At Gallery, if customers buy their furniture before 10 p.m., they will have it in their home the very same day, assuming they live within 100 miles of the store.^[2] Mack opened Gallery Furniture in 1981 in Houston, TX after being in the industry as a successful furniture salesman for many years. Gallery was started with only $5,000 and "a dream". The large furniture store now does around $200 million in sales per year.^[3]

Mattress Mack is well known in the Houston, Texas area as a leader in community involvement and philanthropy. In early 1984, he began a Christmas tradition of giving away furniture to 15 needy families per year. In 1992, Mack paid to feed 20,000 homeless people living in Houston. Mack has also sponsored a trip to Rome for Catholic students and teachers from 60 different schools in the Houston area.^[4] He has worked with former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to raise funds for the Houston Tsunami Relief Fund and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. He has made sizable donations to local schools, colleges, and charitable efforts. He also has strong ties to the Houston sports teams -- the Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, Houston Texans and to professional tennis.

Mack is well known for his animated television advertising spots, which end with his yelling, in resounding cheer, "SAVE YOU MONEY!". McIngvale and his wife Linda have three children.^[5] His youngest daughter Elizabeth is the founder of Peace of Mind, a non-profit organization devoted to the research and cure of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, having struggled with OCD herself for several years. In 2002, McIngvale co-authored the book Always Think Big with Thomas Duening and John Ivancevich. The book chronicles the ups and downs of McIngvale's entrepreneurial career and offers readers advice on how to effectively market and manage a business. ^[6]

Mattress Mack also keeps a blog online of his goings-on at his own MattressMack.com^[7]

Contents 1 Community Contributions 2 Political involvement 3 History 4 References

[edit] Community Contributions

In 2008, Jim McIngvale's company, Gallery Furniture, began an aggressive campaign to refurnish, redesign, and revitalize the over 130 USO Centers around the world. Gallery Furniture started with the USO Center at Houston's Hobby Airport^[8], and then as a result of this one Mr. McIngvale decided "let's redo them all." This unique partnership with the USO will thus contribute the bulk of the charitable and donation efforts of Gallery Furniture through 2010, with the exception of their yearly Christmas Giveaway program. As a result of this endeavor, Gallery Furniture of Houston has become a WorldWide Strategic Partner with the USO.^[9] Other charitable and community contributions include:

• Annual Christmas give-away furnishes 15 households of furniture and the last two years they have furnished 30 households of furniture
• Hosted and donated to the Salvation Army
• Donated furniture to hundreds of teacher lounges
• Helped raise $12 million dollars for the Bush/Clinton fund to aid Tsunami/hurricane victims
• Underwrote YMCA playground at Reliant Stadium for Katrina Evacuees
• Housed several hundred evacuees during hurricane crisis
• One of the largest contributors to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• Underwrote recent OCF Conference held in Houston
• Instrumental in getting Meneger Clinic to move to Houston to provide mental health care to Houston
• Large contributor to Baylor College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School
• Recipient of Mental Health Association Award in 2005
• Underwrote wolf exhibit to The Houston Zoo
• Built and paid for tennis facility at Yates High School
• Donated 100 tennis racquets to inner city kids that would not otherwise have the opportunity to take tennis lessons
• Sole sponsor of Pilgrimage of Faith sending 500 kids and chaperons from the Galveston/Houston Catholic Dioceses to Rome
• Fed 25,000 people Thanksgiving dinner for several years
• Purchased 10,000 toys for needy children distributed during Christmas
• Furnished George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M

[edit] Political involvement

McIngvale is a supporter of Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and is the treasurer for Democrat Larry Joe Doherty's congressional race. Many Democrats have criticized Doherty for having a treasurer that also supports a Republican. [1]

[edit] History

1981
Jim and Linda McIngvale moved from Dallas to Houston and opened a furniture store with their last $5,000. Pursuing a dream by building what is today Gallery Furniture by providing low priced furniture and mattresses to families that had moved into the area to start their lives over as well. Some with nothing more than what they had packed in the car they drove.

1983
Gallery Furniture Saves You Money -

The slogan began shorlty after the opening of Gallery Furniture with Jim McIngvale investing his last $10,000 into television advertising. Not liking the commercial production, he stepped in and flashed the days receipts and jumped up and down promising to "save you money!"^[10]

In a set of commercials done with the assistance of his son, both dressed in mattress costumes and introduced themselves as "Mattress Mac" and "Mattress James" and the nicknames stuck from that point on.

From that point on, "Mack" has done may wonderful things for many efforts. Sponsoring the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo with the purchase of many of the Grand Champions, the Relief efforts of the for Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina and Rita. In addition he has his annual "House full of furniture Give Away" for at least 30 families each year. In some years he has given away twice that amount in effort to assist those that are working toward assisting themselves, but just need a little help getting over that last major hurdle.

Always on the go, "Mack" gives many lectures locally and has been traveling around the US giving motivational speeches to kids, companies and market leaders. Motivating those he comes in touch with as much as he does for those that work at Gallery Furniture.

[edit] References