Mattress Barn

Brenan and Laura Clark started the Mattress Barn 2000. Shortly before getting married they were gathering up the needed items to start a life together and found that mattresses had vastly different prices from several different stores. Furthermore most stores had extremely high overhead and needed to greatly inflate the prices of furniture and mattresses in order to cover their cost. The bed that Brenan and Laura ended up buying was sold by a gentleman who was selling them out of a storage un...

Brenan and Laura Clark started the Mattress Barn 2000. Shortly before getting married they were gathering up the needed items to start a life together and found that mattresses had vastly different prices from several different stores. Furthermore most stores had extremely high overhead and needed to greatly inflate the prices of furniture and mattresses in order to cover their cost. The bed that Brenan and Laura ended up buying was sold by a gentleman who was selling them out of a storage unit with virtually no overhead. This helped the Clarks decide that there was a better way to retail furniture and more importantly mattresses. After renting a storage unit of their own, and selling beds, they soon realized that they needed more space and more models to keep up with the demand. Careful consideration was given to moving the business into a larger space without compromising the original intent to keep overhead and pricing as low as possible. It was decided that a conventional store was not the answer as there where already several other stores in town and the Clarks needed something unique and different. In 2003 Brenan set out to find a larger storage unit that could accommodate at least 10 queen size mattress sets for the least expense possible. The unused space behind Radio Shack along East College Drive in Marshall was perfect. Within a short time 18 mattress models filled the space with the addition of bedroom furniture, futons, and recliners around the outside edges. Business continued to go very well and within a few years the Mattress Barn was again at a cross roads. Sales had somewhat leveled out and it seemed that another move might be necessary in order to take sales to the next level. Brenan and Laura decided that more models to choose from was not the problem as even the largest stores typically only have around 20 mattress options to pick from. The main problem with the current location was awareness and visibility to the public, however the backdoor entrance and low overhead was the key to all of the previous success. The solution was to remain at the current location but to purchase a mobile showroom trailer to increase awareness of the Mattress Barn all throughout Southwest MN. This new trailer has allowed the Mattress Barn to show off many of its most popular models at Fairs, Home Shows, and Parking Lot events all throughout Southwest MN, with out increasing overhead or increasing the retail prices. This form of retail may