If you've ever wondered how mattress stores stay in business, you're not alone. They seem to defy the laws of economics: they occupy large pieces of often very expensive real estate; they're usually empty, and because most people buy a mattress maybe once or twice a decade, they don't seem to do a lot of trade. So how do they they survive? The most puzzling example of this business is a company called Mattress Firm, which became the biggest mattress retailer in the country following an acquisition binge. So confounding is its apparent success that Mattress Firm spawned a conspiracy theory on Reddit. Was the company a money laundering outfit? A mob front? For a while there, speculation was rampant. Today on The Indicator, we team up with Dan Bobkoff of the podcast Household Name, to investigate the mystery of Mattress Firm.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.


Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

300x250 Ad

300x250 Ad

Support quality journalism, like the story above, with your gift right now.

Donate