A couple of years ago at the beginning of the Recession, I met with a young business owner that opened up a boutique kitchen store and high-end mattress store. The kitchen store sold everything from a $10 spatula to a $35,000+ wine vault. The mattress store had a different approach to selling mattress which I enjoyed and thought it might be a game changer in the industry.
Well, this prospective client did not sign and he used the Recession as his excuse. A few months later, the kitchen store was closed. The story picks up last week when my wife & I were out shopping for mattresses. (Yes, a glorious, fun-filled evening ensued – not really.) After checking out a store in the mall and a regional chain, we headed off to this high-end mattress store. I thought I was saving the best for last. I was wrong.
We pulled up to the store just after 8pm and the lights were dim. I was surprised to see this, but we ventured on. We got to the door and found that we missed them. We didn’t miss them by minutes because they closed at 8pm, but we missed them by 2 hours because they closed at 6pm! WHY WOULD A B-TO-C COMPANY THAT SELLS HOME FURNISHINGS BE OPEN MONDAY-SATURDAY FROM 9AM-6PM.
I will never shop at this store because I work Monday thru Friday and my wife works Tuesday through Saturday, both during the day. I can not make it to the store without taking time off work which to be honest, is not worth it for a mattress. Also, I would assume most of their clientele, people that can afford their mattresses, have a job. I do not understand why a retail store would close at 6pm. This would be like me, a professional services company, working from 5pm to 11pm.
My prediction for the future – this mattress store will close much like their kitchen store not because of price, service, product, or differentiation, but because of their lack of accessibility (meaning their hours).
[By the way– there are 4 other mattress stores within .5 miles of this store, all of which are open to 9pm & Sundays. Location may have been another problem.]
