Sleep Fair/Mattress Warehouse in Ch. 11
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2003
Akron, Ohio — Westco Group, parent company of Top 100 store Sleep Fair/Mattress Warehouse, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Westco, which has 61 company-owned and franchised sleep shops in seven states, is the second major bedding specialty chain to seek bankruptcy protection recently.
Mattress Discounters, once the nation's largest such chain, filed for Chapter 11 last August and emerged from bankruptcy protection last month after selling or closing more than half its stores.
In documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cleveland, Westco estimated its assets and liabilities are each less than $10 million.
Included on the list of the retailer's 20 largest unsecured creditors are six bedding manufacturers, one metal bed importer and one bedroom furniture maker.
The largest unsecured creditor is bedding major Simmons, which is owed $1.33 million. The next largest are Serta's Cincinnati licensee, which is owed $460,000, and Spring Air's Cincinnati licensee, owed $395,198.
Metal bed importer Fashion Bed Group is owed $164,485, and its parent, Leggett & Platt, is listed as having a separate unsecured claim for $315,640.
Other bedding producers with unsecured claims are Southerland's ($255,679), Kingsdown ($175,823) and Gold Bond ($80,427).
In addition, Canadian bedroom furniture producer National Woodcraft is owed $73,533, according to court documents.
The Sleep Fair/Mattress Warehouse chain had sales of $60.5 million in 2002, a decline of $10 million from 2001. Westco closed 15 stores last year and shut down three more locations in the first quarter of this year.
Its stores are in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, Missouri and West Virginia.
