Mattress Firm Conspiracy

Submission 5,472

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About

The Mattress Firm Conspiracy, also known as the Mattress Store Conspiracy, is a conspiracy theory that regards the mattress retailer Mattress Firm, which many believe to be a money-laundering front due to the abundance of Mattress Firm locations within cities and towns and the idea that consumers don't purchase mattresses often enough to warrant the brand's quantity in stores. The theory was first conceptualized in 2015 but became notable on Reddit and YouTube in 2018 following Shane Dawson's coverage of it in an episode of his conspiracy theories series. Since the theory's been made well-known, Mattress Firm has closed many stores and been under investigation for fraud.

History

On February 17th, 2015, the YouTube channel of Bloomberg Quicktake posted a video titled, "Why Are There So Many Sleepy's Mattress Stores?" in which they highlighted the large number of Sleepy's locations inside Manhattan, New York (a total of 32). The host went on in the video to give business-centric reasoning for the number of stores. For instance, Sleepy's could be using their locations as "billboards," whereby having so many of them, they reinforce psychologically to the people of New York that they're the mattress professionals. Over the course of seven years, the video received roughly 44,300 views (shown below).

In December 2015, Sleepy's was bought out by Mattress Firm and its locations were transformed into the latter brand.^[1] Subsequently, Mattress Firm became the main brand associated with the conspiracy going forward.

On March 17th, 2016, YouTuber Luna posted a video titled, "MATTRESS FIRM stores popping up everywhere… WHAT'S THE DEAL?" wherein, he drove around his hometown of Boise, Idaho and showed his viewers four locations that were placed within a small radius. Over the course of six years, the video received roughly 6,000 views (shown below, left). On August 13th, 2016, YouTuber SongsByAndy posted a similar video titled, "So Many Mattress Firm Stores," wherein he drove around the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, showcasing multiple locations. Over the course of six years, the video earned roughly 56,800 views (shown below, right).

On June 8th, 2016, the Freaknomomics^[2] podcast hosted an episode titled, "Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?" in which they talked about the amount of Mattress Firm locations. In the episode, they talk to their friend Bill, a producer on the show, who drives down U.S. Highway 41 in Schererville, Indiana, and calls out five Mattress Firm locations. He's quoted in the podcast saying, "Here’s a Sleepy’s. Wow, that is really close. Yeah, so they’re probably a block from each other. And there’s a Mattress Firm on the other side of the street. I’m talking about a different Mattress Firm now I’m seeing on the next block."

On March 2nd, 2017, Redditor CivilianConsumer made a post to /r/conspiracy^[3] titled, "Your local mattress stores are money laundering fronts," which cited similar speculation to the aforementioned evidence. The post earned over 20 upvotes in five years.

Eight days later, on March 28th, 2017, creepypasta YouTuber Nope! Too Creepy posted a video that read a long-form account of the Mattress Firm conspiracy. Over the course of five years, the video received roughly 14,600 views (shown below).

On January 23rd, 2018, Business Insider^[8] wrote an article about the conspiracy theory, including within it a Google Maps screenshot showing multiple Mattress Firm locations in a small radius of Austin, Texas (shown below). When the publication posted a tweet^[9] about the article, it received roughly 3,700 likes in four years.

On February 14th, 2018, Shane Dawson uploaded a video that was a part of his conspiracy theories series, simply titled, "MIND BLOWING CONSPIRACY THEORIES." The first theory he featured in the episode was the Mattress Firm conspiracy. Over the course of four years, the video received roughly 23.2 million views and 882,000 likes (shown below).

Dawson's interest in the conspiracy caused the internet's interest to peak in 2018. Going into the remainder of 2018, multiple Redditor's started citing their own evidence regarding the theory. Many shared Google Maps screenshots of Mattress Firm locations in their area.^[4] On August 6th, 2018, it was reported by Reuters^[5] that Mattress Firm was exploring bankruptcy in the U.S. and was possibly shutting down many locations.

On February 18th, 2021, the Allegedly Possibly Maybe podcast talked about the Mattress Firm conspiracy on their podcast, posting it to YouTube on the same day and earning roughly 27,800 views in one year (shown below). In it, they offered details about Mattress Firm's South African parent company being under investigation for fraud in the United States.

Going into 2022, the conspiracy gained traction and proponents across platforms. For instance, on January 11th, 2022, TikToker^[6] ken posted a video that received roughly 1.9 million plays and 209,900 likes in four months (shown below, left). On January 21st, 2022, TikToker^[7] dylanholston walked into a Mattress Firm to ask them if they were a money-laundering front. The video received roughly 477,100 plays and 36,800 likes in four months (shown below, right).