Mattress war brewing as Eastern invaders eye Southland marketplace

Sleepy's will be opening soon at 159th Street and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Mattress wars anyone?

Art Van Furniture, a Michigan-based chain known for its furniture and mattresses, and Sleepy’s, a New York-based company that calls itself the world’s largest mattress retailer, have both set their expansion sights on the Chicago marketplace in general and the Southland marketplace in particular.

Art Van, which made its first Chicago-area delivery this week, will open its first Illinois store on Saturday at 15080 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. The retailer is holding an invitation-only preview party and ribbon-cutting Thursday evening at the Orland location.

The company opened its distribution center last week in Bolingbrook. The center is 183,000-square-feet and will employ 48 workers.

"Opening our distribution center in the Chicago market brings us one step closer to inviting customers into our retail stores in and around the Windy City," Steve Caprario, vice president of distribution, Art Van Furniture, said in a release. "This is our first official footprint within Chicagoland and we are grateful for the warm welcome of the Bolingbrook community."

According to the company, the distribution center will service all furniture deliveries in the Chicago area.  Art Van will use five local trucks to start and anticipates increasing this number to 25 crews by the end of next year.  Deliveries will be offered from Monday to Saturday.

The company signed a 10-year lease on the property – a former Dominick’s store – earlier this year as it prepared to make its move into the Chicago market. The company spent the past six months converting the former Dominick’s supermarket into a 46,000-square-foot furniture store.

The Orland store is the first in “a planned expansion into the Chicago market,” said Diana K. Charles, director of corporate communications for the chain.

The store will be corporate owned and employ from 60-80 workers, Charles said.

In addition to the store in Orland Park, Art Van plans to open five additional stores this year at Ford City Shopping Center in Chicago, on Elston Avenue in Chicago, Bolingbrook, Batavia and Merrillville-Hobart in northwest Indiana.

As a result of the expansion, Art Van expects to create about 600 new jobs by the end of the year.

The Orland store is in the Orland Greens Shopping Center and cost an estimated $2 million. Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Sleepy’s has already invaded the Chicago marketplace and one of its first stores is at 2650 W. 95^th St. in Evergreen Park, which opened a few weeks ago.

The Hicksville-based company has more than 800 showrooms in 14 Eastern and mid-Atlantic states and carries a wide selection of mattress brands.

The company has plans for additional Sleepy’s in the Southland including a store at 159^th Street and Harlem Avenue in Orland Park, next to 5 Guys Burgers in the Home Depot plaza.

The company, which got its start in 1931 in Brooklyn, did not respond to numerous calls and emails asking about its plans.

Both companies are going up against a trio of already established mattress retailers in the Southland, which are all expanding themselves.

Back to Bed recently opened a new store in Frankfort in a retail strip at the Hickory Creek Marketplace at St. Francis and LaGrange roads.

The Bedding Experts recently opened a new store at 1330 Torrence Ave. in Calumet City across from the River Oaks Center.

American Mattress has announced it will be building a new store this year in New Lenox and recently opened a new store in Naperville/Plainfield.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.

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