Construction crews are building a new 4,800-square-foot Sleep Outfitters store in the 7300 block of Shallowford Road.Another major mattress retailer is moving into the Chattanooga market this winter with new stores in Hixson and East Brainerd and plans for up to five area stores.
Sleep Outfitters, a retail chain founded in West Virginia and based in Lexington, Ky., since 2015, is building similar 4,300-square-foot stores at 5307 Highway 153 in Hixson and in the 7300 block of Shallowford Road in East Brainerd as part of an expansion across East Tennessee for Sleep Outfitters.
The company also is preparing to build a third store and distribution center soon in Chattanooga, and company spokesman Steve Plantz said the retailer is looking at eventually expanding to four to five stores in Chattanooga.
Sleep Outfitters already operates nearly 160 stores in a half dozen states and has enjoyed a 10 percent annual growth in sales since it entered Middle Tennessee in 2011 through its purchase of the Nashville-based retailer Mattresses Unlimited. Plantz said the expansion into Nashville "has done well, so the move this year into Knoxville, the Tri Cities and now Chattanooga seemed like a natural one."
Sleep Outfitters features innerspring, memory foam and hybrid set mattresses from Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster and Sealy, along with adjustable foundations, frames, headboards, sheets, pillows and mattress protectors.
"Our view is that good, restorative sleep - just like diet and exercise - are three simple things we all can do to improve our lives immensely," the company says in one of its blogs.
The new stores are projected to open during the first quarter of 2018 and, once completed, will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Until the new Chattanooga distribution facility is built, Planz said Sleep Outfitters will use its distribution center in Huntsville, Ala., to serve the new Chattanooga outlets.
The company was started in 1983 by founder and CEO Kim Knopf in South Charleston, W.Va. and operates under the corporate name of Innovative Mattress Solutions. The company has grown from a one-woman, one-store operation to over 155 stores with over 400 employees.
The new Sleep Outfitter store openings will come only a few months after Steve and Reita Ball, co-pastors of the Metro Tab Church in Chattanooga, opened Nooga Mattress in Hamilton Village on Gunbarrel Road. It also comes on the heels of the Chattanooga-based Murmaid Mattress opening its 12th local store on Lee Highway earlier this year. Mattress Firm also operates eight stores and clearance outlets in the Chattanooga area.
Despite the competition, Plantz said Sleep Outfitters is a competitive retailer interested in serving the growing and improving market for mattresses and bedding sales in Tennessee.
This updates an earlier version of the story that incorrectly identified the title of Steve Plantz.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.