Kentucky-based Sleep Outfitters is opening its first two mattress stores in the Chattanooga market today, bringing the total number of its Tennessee stores to 20 with plans to add still more stores and a local distribution facility.
Sleep Outfitters, a retail chain founded in West Virginia and based in Lexington, Ky., since 2015, built 4,300-square-foot stores at 5307 Highway 153 in Hixson, across from Northgate Mall, and 7308 Shallowford Road at Hamilton Place. In celebration of the grand openings, company spokesman Steve Plantz said Sleep Outfitters will give away a $5,000 "dream bed" to those who enter an online drawing at sleepoutfitters.com/dreambed.
"Chattanooga is a natural extension of our recent move into eastern Tennessee," Plantz said. "It is a vibrant, Southern market, located near major interstates."
Sleep Outfitters will open its first two locations in the Chattanooga area today — one in East Brainerd and one in Hixson — with more stores planned in the market later on, said company spokesman Steve Plantz. The store pictured above is located at 7308 Shallowford Road, in front of the Wingate by Wyndham hotel. (Staff Photo by Allison Shirk)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.
Prices can range from $300 to $7,000 or more with an adjustable foundation for a king-size mattress. The store offers long-term financing and special financing plans, too.
Plantz said Sleep Outfitters plans to continue expanding its footprint in eastern Tennessee with several locations either under construction or under consideration. Plantz said in December the company will eventually open up four or five more stores in the area. The company is also planning a distribution center soon in Chattanooga.
"While we got into the Ohio markets via acquisitions some years ago, most of our recent expansion has been in the southern markets," Plantz said.
The new stores 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, Plantz said Sleep Outfitters will use its distribution center in Huntsville, Ala., to serve the new Chattanooga outlets.
The company 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. 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 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 as the on Chattanooga-based Murmaid Mattress prepares a grand opening on Wednesday May 2 at its 12th and newest location on Lee Highway. Mattress Firm also operates eight stores and clearance outlets in the Chattanooga area.
Contact staff writer Allison Shirk at ashirk@timesfreepress.com or @Allison_Shirk.