Independent mattress manufacturer Blue Bell Mattress Co., headquartered in East Windsor, Connecticut, has expanded its reach in the Midwest by acquiring Comfort Mattress Co. from Warren, Michigan-based furniture and mattress retailer Art Van Furniture.
The acquisition extends Blue Bell’s distribution base from its core market in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states to include the Midwest region and 176 of Art Van’s retail stores from Pennsylvania to Illinois.
Blue Bell will run its Midwest production from Comfort Mattress’ 140,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Roseville, Michigan. Company employees have become part of the Blue Bell team, which now totals 250.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The acquisition gives us a great gateway into the Midwest to help build out our expansion strategy, which has accelerated with (last) year’s investment by Landon Capital Partners,” said Mark Kolovson, chief executive officer of Blue Bell. “The Comfort Mattress facility is a great location for Blue Bell to provide our growing retail partners with quicker delivery of our portfolio of products.”
The newly acquired facility will be branded Blue Bell Midwest. It will manufacture product for Blue Bell’s private-label line, as well as King Koil and Natura, Blue Bell’s licensing partners. According to a news release, Blue Bell is the largest U.S. licensee for King Koil-brand products, providing branded and private-label innerspring and hybrid mattresses to bedding and furniture retailers in nearly 1,500 store locations from Maine to Florida and as far west as Illinois.
“We’re excited about this next step in Blue Bell’s expansion and look forward to integrating the Michigan factory into the existing operations,” said Chris Sullivan, managing partner of Landon Capital Partners, which acquired a majority interest in Blue Bell in September. “(This) year will contain further expansion of both the Blue Bell footprint and into new product lines. This acquisition is the first step toward reaching those goals.”
Art Van used the Comfort Mattress factory to supply its traditional and PureSleep bedding stores with a Michigan-made line of bedding. The factory will complement Blue Bell’s two manufacturing facilities, totaling 200,000 square feet, both of which are located in East Windsor, Connecticut.
