Retail Roundup: Fortunoff Mattress to open 3 locations on Long Island

After opening its first store in Paramus, New Jersey, last month, Fortunoff Mattress is set to open three more on Long Island in July and August.

Leases have been signed for three new stores ranging from 2,400 to 5,600 square feet in Carle Place, at 214 Glen Cove Rd.; Huntington Station, at 277 Walt Whitman Rd.; and Massapequa Park, at 4934 Sunrise Hwy., according to Jericho-based Fortunoff Mattress.

A store also will open in Union, New Jersey, this summer.

You may remember the name Fortunoff from a former regional chain of family-owned, upscale stores that used to sell jewelry, furniture and other home items.

Now, however, Fortunoff Mattress is a new expansion, under a license, of Fortunoff Brands LLC, which also licenses the brand to Fortunoff Backyard Store and Fortunoff Fine Jewelry.

It made sense to add mattress stores to the enterprise, said Bernie Sensale, chief executive of Fortunoff Mattress.

“We like the business, and we thought it was a good placement of the brand. We saw a gap in the marketplace to provide a differentiated and upscale assortment of products and shopping experience,” he said.

Founded in 1922, Westbury-based Fortunoff shut down in 2009 after filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Fortunoff and Mayrock families, who owned and operated Fortunoff for four generations, bought the intellectual property of Fortunoff, including the brand name and related trademarks, in 2009, according to the company.

Now the company plans to open more Fortunoff Mattress stores during the next five years in the New York and New Jersey area.

Eight to 10 will open in 2018 and 10 to 15 in 2019 if Fortunoff can find suitable locations and staff, and at least seven of those stores will be on Long Island, Sensale said.

Why the bedding boom?

Maybe because retail mattress sales are rising and shining. (Sorry, I had to do it.)

The customer base for mattresses has expanded since the recession officially ended in 2009, unemployment has declined and disposable income has increased, according to IBISWorld Inc., a market research firm in Los Angeles.

Furthermore, more shoppers are going to specialty stores for mattresses instead of general furniture stores — 19 percent in 1993 compared with 47 percent by the end of 2014.

Retail Roundup is a new column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that will be published online and in the Monday paper. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.