The Sleep Train - Company History

Company History

Sleep Train was founded by Dale Carlsen in 1985, shortly after graduating from California State University at Sacramento. He opened the first Sleep Train store on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento, California. Within eight months, he added a second store in Citrus Heights, California. Prior to starting Sleep Train, Carlsen worked as a salesperson for local mattress manufacturer, Lady Americana.

In June 2000, Sleep Train sold 24 of its stores (mainly in Seattle and Portland), or about 30 percent of its business, to Fenway Partners, a New York private-investment firm which had acquired Sleep Country USA, a competing chain established in 1991, three months earlier. At the time, Sleep Train had 44 stores (of which 18 were in Washington) and Sleep Country USA 28.

In 2002, Sleep Train Inc. announced plans to purchase 54 of Mattress Discounters' stores in California during that company's bankruptcy—which would more than double Sleep Train's size. In 2003, Fenway Partners sold Sleep Country USA to the Atlanta-based Simmons Company, and in August 2006, Sleep Train Inc. purchased the then-55-store Sleep Country USA chain from Simmons.

In 2007, the company initiated its first annual philanthropic event to help at-risk youth in the region with the creation of the Sleep Train Charity Golf Classic. Retrieved May 6, 2012. Then in 2008, Sleep Train founded The Sleep Train Foster Kids Program, a philanthropic program to give back to its communities through the support of nonprofit organizations that aide the region’s more than 60,000 foster children.

In October 2010, Sleep Train became one of few companies nationwide to implement an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The plan allows all qualified employees to benefit from the company’s growth and prosperity by obtaining shares of the company at no cost to them. The ESOP plan is in addition to the company’s existing 401k plan. ESOP’s are established to inspire a sense of ownership in the company within employees, enabling them to strive for a common goal of success, which in turn benefits them upon retirement. Sleep Train employees currently own more than 25% of the company.

In September 2011, Sleep Train acquired Christian’s Mattress Xpress, converting three stores into new Sleep Train stores in Visalia, Fresno and Fowler. The following month, October 2011, Sleep Train purchased Mattress Outlet, a 14-store company with 13 stores in eastern Washington and one in Idaho, and America’s Mattress, a seven-store company in western Washington. In October 2012, Sleep Train acquired Sleep City, an 8-store chain in Eastern Washington and Idaho.