National Retailer Celebrates South Dakota Homecoming

Mattress Firm founder opens franchise locations in Sioux Falls

What do Mount Rushmore, Tom Brokaw and Mattress Firm’s three founders have in common? They all call the great state of South Dakota home. Today, after 27 years in business and with more than 1,000 stores across the country, Mattress Firm announced that one of its founders, Harry Roberts, is bringing the company back to his hometown, and opening the first three franchise stores in South Dakota. The first store is slated to open November 16, 2013 at 4207 W. 41st St., Sioux Falls, SD 57106.

While Mattress Firm was founded in Houston, Texas all three of its founders hail from South Dakota. Harry Roberts, a founder and current franchise owner, has been the driving force behind bringing the company back to South Dakota and establishing a store presence in the state.

“While Mattress Firm stores may be new to South Dakota, South Dakota isn’t new to Mattress Firm,” said Roberts, “University of South Dakota graduates fill many roles in the organization today including our EVP of Marketing, VP of Learning & Development, VP of Sales & Operations, Director of Talent, Acquisition & Recruiting and several field leadership roles. I’m very excited that by building a presence in our home state, we will be able to provide more employment opportunities, and also offer our wide selection of mattresses and excellent customer service to local customers.”

When Harry Roberts, Paul Stork and Steve Fendrich started Mattress Firm in 1986, they set out to create a unique shopping experience for their guests by providing a large selection of quality name brand mattresses at a competitive price in a clean, upscale environment. This store environment didn’t exist in the 1980s. In fact, Mattress Firm stores were among the first to remove mattresses from plastic covers so that guests could comfortably test them.

Today, guests can test the latest in sleep technology and compare more than 55 different models of mattresses from top manufacturers such as Sealy, Serta, Simmons and Tempur-Pedic. The store design is centered around Mattress Firm’s “Comfort by Color” concept, which allows customers to easily move throughout the store to browse and compare the different styles and brands based on the comfort level of the mattress: Firm (Yellow), Plush (Orange), Pillow Top (Red) and Personalized (Blue). Customers can also browse online at www.mattressfirm.com

“Mattress Firm has come a long way in the past 27 years,” said Steve Stagner, President and CEO of Mattress Firm. “Harry Roberts is one of the most talented businessmen that I know. He established a truly unique company and store concept that continues to grow and resonate with customers around the country. He exemplifies hard work, dedication and focus on our customers, and we are very pleased that he will be leading the new stores in South Dakota.”

The homecoming to South Dakota brings a great sense of accomplishment to Roberts. “It feels good to be able to serve the community I grew up in. Mattress Firm has changed my life as well as countless others. I continue to believe in this company today because it’s about people – the people that work here, the people we partner with and the people we serve,” expressed Roberts. “This has been an incredible journey and I’m so happy to be bringing Mattress Firm home to South Dakota.”

About Mattress Firm

Houston-based Mattress Firm (NASDAQ:MFRM) is a high growth specialty retailer, recognized as one of the nation’s largest specialty bedding companies, offering a broad selection of both traditional and specialty mattresses, bedding accessories and related products from leading manufacturers. With more than 1,100 stores across 28 states, Mattress Firm has the largest geographic footprint in the United States among mattress specialty retailers. Mattress Firm offers customers comfortable store environments, guarantees on price, comfort and service, and highly-trained sales professionals. The company recently ranked #7 in Workplace Dynamics’ 2012 “National Top 150 Workplaces” Survey. More information at www.mattressfirm.com

For Mattress Firm:Sunni Goodman, [e-mail] Dorman, [e-mail] [e-mail]