Slumberland plans April 1 debut for new store

Nearly a quarter-century after Slumberland Furniture made its debut in the Queen City, the Oakdale, Minnesota-based retailer is opening a new venture in Springfield Plaza on April 1.

Springfield will be the first location for Slumberland Mattress Plus, a new concept for the company, said President Michael Larson. The new store is set to open at 3890 W. Washita St. in Springfield Plaza, positioned between Ulta Beauty and Five Below Inc.

Mattresses will be the main retail focus for the store, along with pillows, sheets and other bedding-related items, Larson said.

“This is a little bit going back to our roots,” Larson said of the family-owned company, which was founded in 1967. He said it originally only sold mattresses but over time added products such as recliners, sofas, tables and other furniture by the late 1980s and early 1990s, morphing into Slumberland Furniture.

Company officials say Slumberland Furniture, which opened a Springfield location in 2003, has grown to over 120 stores in 12 states. Officials declined to disclose startup costs or lease terms for the Slumberland Mattress Plus store, which will employ four. A grand opening weekend is scheduled for April 10-12.

The new Springfield store is around 5,000 square feet, Larson said, much smaller compared to its 40,000-square-foot Slumberland Furniture shop at 1831 E. Independence St.

“From what we know about consumer behavior through our research, for mattresses, people don’t tend to drive quite as far to shop for them as they do if they’re going to fill a whole house full of furniture,” he said, noting Slumberland Mattress Plus is around a 15-minute drive from the Slumberland Furniture store. “So, this is a little bit of that convenience at play.”

Additionally, Slumberland already has a home delivery crew, trucks and a management system in Springfield, which was helpful for opening a new store in town, Larson said.

“Adding another store is less complicated if you do it in a market where you already have a team that’s fully trained and operationally ready to go. So, these additional Mattress Plus stores will go into markets where we have existing Slumberland stores,” Larson said, adding the company is working to launch approximately four more stores in other markets in the next few years.

A kiosk also will be in the Slumberland Mattress Plus store, Larson said: It will allow shoppers to browse the full line of Slumberland Furniture if they want to see products that might complement a mattress purchase, for example.

The local Slumberland Furniture store also is getting a remodel, which is part of a companywide initiative. Larson said work at the Springfield store includes installing new flooring, reconfiguring some of its layout and upgrading lighting. That project is expected to wrap in May, and the store remains open amid the work, he said, estimating the cost will be “in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“When you have 125 locations across 12 states, it takes a while to get all of them refreshed, but we’re just going market by market and updating those stores to the new color palette and the new in-store experience,” he said. “We’re real pleased with the way that it’s progressing. I think the customers will love what they see.”