The Sleep Train

Sleep Train
ESOP
Industry Mattress Retailer
Founded 1985
Founder Dale Carlsen
Headquarters Rocklin, California
Area served
 California
Key people
 Founder/CEO: Dale Carlsen; COO: Rob Killgore; CFO: Pete DiCorti
Products Brand name mattress sets from Beautyrest, Sealy Mattress Company, Posturepedic, Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster, and Serta (company) iComfort; Foundations, moveable beds, daybeds and convertibles; Mattress accessories
Number of employees
 800+
Subsidiaries Mattress Discounters, Sleep Country USA, Got Sleep
Website www.sleeptrain.com

Sleep Train is a mattress retailer with locations throughout the state of California. It was founded by Dale Carlsen in June 1985. The company is based in Rocklin, California.

Company history

Sleep Train was founded by Dale Carlsen in 1985, shortly after graduating from California State University at Sacramento. He opened the first Sleep Train store on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento, California.[1] Within eight months, he added a second store in Citrus Heights, California. Prior to starting Sleep Train, Carlsen worked as a salesperson for local mattress manufacturer, Lady Americana.[1]

In June 2000, Sleep Train sold 24 of its stores (mainly in Seattle and Portland), or about 30 percent of its business, to Fenway Partners,[2] a New York private-investment firm which had acquired Sleep Country USA, a competing chain established in 1991, three months earlier.[3][4] At the time, Sleep Train had 44 stores (of which 18 were in Washington) and Sleep Country USA 28.[3] In 2002, Sleep Train Inc. announced plans to purchase 54 of Mattress Discounters' stores in California during that company's bankruptcy—which would more than double Sleep Train's size.[5]

In 2003, Fenway Partners sold Sleep Country USA to the Atlanta-based Simmons Company,[4] and in August 2006, Sleep Train Inc. purchased the then-55-store Sleep Country USA chain from Simmons.[6]

In September 2011, Sleep Train acquired Christian’s Mattress Xpress, converting three stores into new Sleep Train stores in Visalia, Fresno and Fowler.[7] The following month, October 2011, Sleep Train purchased Mattress Outlet, a 14-store company with 13 stores in eastern Washington and one in Idaho, and America’s Mattress, a seven-store company in western Washington.[8] In October 2012, Sleep Train acquired Sleep City, an 8-store chain in Eastern Washington and Idaho.[9] In April 2014, Sleep Train acquired America’s Mattress in Hawaii. The acquisition included nine local America’s Mattress stores: five stores on Oahu, two stores on the Big Island in Kona and Hilo, and one each on the islands of Maui and Kauai.[10]

On September 4, 2014, Mattress Firm announced it will purchase The Sleep Train Inc. for $425 million to help bolster its position in the specialty retail bedding industry.[11]

Sponsorships

On October 15, 2012, it purchased the naming rights for the Sleep Train Arena (Formerly ARCO Arena/Power Balance Pavilion) in Sacramento, California.[12] Sleep Train Arena is the home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

In 2011, Sleep Train’s founder, Dale Carlsen, was one of 25 executives who pledged financial support to keep the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento.[13] The company utilized its sponsorship to further promote and capture support for its Foster Kids Program, organizing drives called “Donation Days” at the games to collect important material items for foster children.[14]

Sleep Train advertised for many years on The Rush Limbaugh Show but suspended advertising on the show in 2012 in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy; the company was in discussions regarding future advertising on the show when on March 8 Rush Limbaugh personally terminated the relationship.[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Celebrating 25 Years Sleep Train website. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Kelly (June 11, 2000). "Sleep Train sells off 24 stores for cash in Seattle, Portland". Sacramento Business Journal. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lee, Thomas (March 3, 2000). "N.Y. firm acquires Sleep Country". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Levesque, John (August 9, 2009). "Sleep Country jingle has been waking up the Northwest for 18 years". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Kelly (October 23, 2002). "Sleep Train agrees to buy 54 stores". Sacramento Business Journal. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Sleep Train purchases Sleep Country USA". Sacramento Business Journal. August 30, 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  7. ↑ Sleep Train announces acquisition, expansion. The Business Journal. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  8. ↑ Sleep Train buys two mattress companies. Sacramento Business Journal, October 28, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  9. ↑ Sleep Train acquires more stores, expanding Got Sleep format. Sacramento Business Journal, October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  10. ↑ http://furniturecore.com/HFBusiness/HFBNow/ArticleId/10665/sleep-train-to-acquire-americas-mattress-in-hawaii.aspx. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "Mattress Firm buying Sleep Train for $425 million". The Seattle Times.
  12. ↑ Sosenko, Ben (October 15, 2012). "Kings Now Call ‘Sleep Train Arena’ Home". KOVR. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
  13. ↑ Businesses step up to help save the Sacramento Kings. KXTV, April 26, 2011. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Sleep Train promotes foster program through Kings sponsorship". Sacramento Business Journal. January 18, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
  15. ↑ Seidl, Jonathan. Limbaugh drops company that suspended ads from show over Fluke remarks. The Blaze. Retrieved March 8, 2012.

External links