1-800-Mattress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1976 |
| Founder(s) | Napoleon and Kay Barragan |
| Headquarters | Queens, New York, USA |
| Industry | retail |
| Products | bedding |
| Revenue | $100 million |
| Employees | 325 |
| Website | http://www.mattress.com |
1-800-Mattress is an American bedding retailer famous, especially in the New York area, for its ads that use the slogans "leave off the last S for savings" and also "the original dial-a-mattress".
With 325 employees and annual sales topping $100 million at its most successful, 1-800-Mattress had 47 showrooms around the country, and 250 distributors around the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Napoleon Barragan, founder
1-800-Mattress was founded by Napoleon Barragan. He was born in Bolívar province, Ecuador, on March 8, 1941. He went to Colombia at the age of 17 seeking work and found a job delivering beer and soda on donkeys.
He emigrated to Queens, New York, from Bogotá, Colombia, with his wife, Kay, also a native of Ecuador. With a $2000 loan from his wife, Napoleon Barragan founded his mattress firm in 1976 after hearing an ad for the now defunct Dial-a-Steak. [1][2]
Crain's New York Business named Napoleon Barragan as one of the 100 most powerful minority business leaders. That same report noted he pled guilty to sales tax fraud in 1994. Luis Barragan, Napoleon and Kay's elder son, was the company's president until his accidental death in a swimming accident at the age of 34 in 2006.
[edit] Business difficulties
In 1994, Napoleon Barragan was found guilty of tax-fraud crimes and agreed to pay $1 million to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and to serve a year in prison. On March 23, 2009,[3] 1-800-Mattress which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection pending a proposed merger with former rival, Sleepy's.[4]
[edit] Kay Barragan
On May 14, 2009, it was reported that Kay Barragan's body had been discovered in her home. Her younger son, Eduardo, has been charged with her murder.[5] Kay Barragan was 65 years old.
In addition to losing their son Luis, one of the Barragans' two daughters, Beatrice, died of heart disease in 2003. Kay is survived by her husband, and the couple's other daughter, Kay Otilia Massell, who stated that her brother Eduardo suffers from schizophrenia.[6][7]
[edit] References
- ^ 1-800 Mattress background Queens (NY) Tribune article on 1-800-Mattress' history
- ^ New York Metro report about 1-800-Mattress
- ^ "Crain's NY report". Archived from the original on 2009-05-16. http://www.webcitation.org/5gp2VSvQb. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Report of death
- ^ "Report of Kay Barragan's death". Archived from the original on 2009-05-16. http://www.webcitation.org/5gp2V3jDz. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
- ^ Kay Barragan obituary
