Things are looking up in Mattressville. It’s about time.
We noted a few weeks ago that mattress business in Las Vegas generally met the modest expectations that industry leaders had for that market. Yes, traffic was generally quite light, but the buyers who made the trip were serious about improving their business and had good meetings with key vendors.
Exhibitors acknowledged the tough business climate but told us they see signs of progress.
“There is a feeling of optimism, a feeling that things will gradually improve,” said Derek Leishman, national sales director for Mlily. “Everyone is looking for silver linings. They are trying to find positives.”
A big positive arrived just a few days ago, with Piper Sandler’s release of its July mattress retail survey. The welcome headline: “A remarkably strong month.”
Piper Sandler’s latest survey results, which reflect the performance of more than a dozen mattress retailers operating more than 600 stores, showed a mean sales increase of 7.7% in July — “the strongest performance since December 2021 and the fourth consecutive month of positive year-over-year sales.”
Significantly, the firm believes the industry has turned the corner on its sustained sales slump.
“We continue to see clear evidence that mattress sales have officially bottomed — without any help from housing — after three years of notable declines,” Piper Sandler said. “July strength was driven by mattress units, which meaningfully accelerated to +6% year over year — after lapping exactly four years of unit declines.”
Looking at specific brands, Piper Sandler noted that Tempur-Pedic sales “inflected positive once again” and said Sealy sales accelerated to their best performance in more than three and a half years. Given the breadth of Sealy’s reach in the marketplace, that strong showing should be providing a lift to retailers across the country.
And even more good news is coming, according to retailers. Retail expectations on third-quarter sales “skew quite positive, with 80% of retailers forecasting for year-over-year growth in Q3,” Piper Sandler reported. Mattress retailers are now expecting a mean sales spike in the third quarter of 6.3%.
I don’t need to remind you of the importance of the third quarter, where the key Labor Day sales period awaits.
That Piper Sandler report does provide remarkably good news of an industry turnaround in the making.
And it gives us another lens through which to view the latest Las Vegas Market. The positive sales indicators that exhibitors noted were confirmed by the latest Piper Sandler report. So was the growing sense of optimism that exhibitors shared with me.
“This is music to my ears,” Shifman President Bill Hammer said when I told him about the latest Piper Sandler report.
He has his own reasons for optimism. “For what Las Vegas was,” he said, “we did quite well. We are opening new dealers. In a time of stormy seas, I’m really proud of how we are doing. We are getting stronger.”
We also heard encouraging reports in Las Vegas about the bedding industry’s next big event: the January Las Vegas market, the industry’s traditional time to launch new lines. Spring Air President Nick Bates says that market is shaping up as “really strong.” He predicted it will be one of the strongest January markets in years.
Here’s hoping that a mattress comeback continues to gain strength this year, positioning the industry for a nice growth year in 2026.
