D&A Mattress Inc., better known in the region as Mattress Firm El Paso, filed for Chapter 11 protection earlier this month, with court filings listing more than $3.5 million in claims from the company’s 20 largest unsecured creditors.
The bankruptcy case was filed Nov. 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso. The company estimated it has between $1 million and $10 million in assets, as well as liabilities in the same range. The voluntary petition for bankruptcy also shows that D&A Mattress has between 100 and 199 creditors.
El Paso businessman and philanthropist Daniel Longoria, listed in the filing as the company’s president, sole director and sole shareholder, has not returned El Paso Inc.’s inquiries. D&A Mattress is represented by Houston law firm Haselden Farrow PLLC.
A Nov. 4 article in Furniture Today reported that the “bankruptcy filing comes amid a dispute involving the company’s franchise agreement.” The publication also noted that the franchisor had “asserted a default and threatened to terminate the franchise agreement.”
Industry reports state that the El Paso franchise operation has about 45 employees.
Chapter 11, commonly known as a reorganization bankruptcy, generally allows a business to continue operating while it develops a plan to restructure its debts and repay creditors. The process generally pauses collection efforts while the bankruptcy case proceeds. The reorganization plan must be approved by the bankruptcy court and creditors.
D&A Mattress is an independently owned Mattress Firm franchisee and is not part of the national retailer’s corporate operations. Mattress Firm’s website lists 13 franchise locations in El Paso and two in Las Cruces.
The bankruptcy has caught the attention of the national mattress industry. TheStreet, an online source for stock market, economy and personal finance issues, described D&A’s filing as “part of a troubling trend” affecting the mattress and furniture industries.
“A number of major, mass-market mattress and furniture chains have closed all around the country,” the Nov. 3 article states. “That’s not an accident, as lower- and middle-income customers have been struggling, and when you’re worried about rent, putting food on the table, and meeting healthcare costs, you probably put off buying a new couch or mattress.”
The article listed several other mattress retailers that have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past two years, including Sleep Number Corporation, No Bull Mattress & More, Ortho Mattress and American Mattress, which has since filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Longoria and his wife, Joann, started the Mattress Firm franchise in El Paso in October 1997 after moving here from Houston. They joined with business partner Albert Estrada and purchased the El Paso and Albuquerque franchise rights.
The local Mattress Firm operation has sponsored many community events and causes, including donations to the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the El Paso Boys and Girls Club, the Neon Desert Music Festival, YWCA, El Paso Pro Musica, the El Paso Chihuahuas, UTEP Athletics and Kids Palooza.
The Longorias’ mattress business also funded the Don Haskins statue erected outside UTEP’s Don Haskins Center.
In 2010, the company broke ground on a 35,000-square-foot warehouse in the Picacho Hills subdivision on El Paso’s Westside. By 2016, D&A was operating 28 Mattress Store locations in El Paso and New Mexico.