Metro Mattress, based in Syracuse, reported a loss of $3.7 million and sales of only $15 million during the first eight months of 2025. The company, which has been in business for 49 years and operates 70 stores in New York and New England, filed for bankruptcy in September 2024.
At that time, it had $8.88 million in assets and $23.7 million in debts. Attorney Jeffrey Dove warned that the company was “running out of money very quickly.”
Zero Buyers
Metro Mattress reached out to 21 potential buyers after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but did not receive any offers. The company had serious discussions with four interested parties, but those talks ultimately fell through.
On October 3, 2025, Judge Wendy Kinsella of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the company’s complete liquidation.
Regional Roots
Metro Mattress started in 1976 in Liverpool, New York. It is now the largest mattress retailer in Upstate New York. The company expanded from one store to 70 locations across New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Original owner Dave Shiroff sold the business in 2000 when it had nine stores in the Syracuse area.
Expansion Missteps
The chain’s rapid expansion in New England resulted in significant financial losses. New stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire faced high operating costs and poor management due to long distances, which CEO Dino Cifelli referred to as “inefficiencies of scale.”
In early 2025, the company closed 30 stores in New England; however, the losses continued to increase.
Liquidation Begins
Court-approved sales for closing stores started in October 2025 at 40 locations. Customers can find discounts up to 70% on Tempur-Pedic, Beautyrest, and Sealy products.
Six stores in New York received approval to liquidate immediately. The other 34 stores began their shutdown on October 6, following a five-week closing plan.
Community Impact
The closure will remove a long-standing store that has served communities in Upstate New York, including Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, and the Southern Tier.
Competitors City Mattress and Mattress Makers of Syracuse are poised to attract customers seeking a new retailer. Liverpool has lost its local store after almost fifty years.
Workforce Devastation
Independent estimates indicate that between 200 and 300 workers could lose their jobs. As of March 2024, the company had 280 employees across its stores and three distribution centers.
A Change.org petition from January 2025 included complaints from customers about management. One shopper reported that an executive joked about charging “poor people” high interest rates.
Amazon Disruption
By 2024, Amazon is projected to hold approximately 19-20% of the U.S. mattress market. In 2023, the company generated approximately $3 billion in bedding sales, particularly excelling in the lower-price segment, where competitors like Metro Mattress operate.
However, an August 2025 report from Bedding News highlighted that “Amazon’s online mattress sales are all but invisible to many in the mattress industry.”
Retail Wave
Metro Mattress is part of a trend of bedding store closures expected in 2024 and 2025. This includes Mattress Land from California, which closed 15 stores after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2025.
In 2024, U.S. retail stores saw 7,325 closures, the highest number since the 10,000 stores that closed during the pandemic in 2020. Approximately 15,000 more closures are expected in 2025.
Creditor Losses
Metro Mattress’s top 20 unsecured creditors collectively hold claims totaling approximately $4.21 million.
Tempur-Pedic alone owes nearly $2 million. With a $14.82 million shortfall between assets and liabilities, creditors in the 100-199 total will recover minimal amounts from the liquidation proceeds.
Leadership & Strategy Failures
Metro Mattress hired Dino Cifelli as CEO in March 2024—six months before the company filed for bankruptcy—to execute a growth strategy. A January 2025 petition demanded his resignation, citing operational decline.
The company’s restructuring plan focused on closing 30 New England stores and consolidating around New York markets, but failed as foot traffic plummeted and advertising funds dried up.
Industry Lessons & Consumer Shift
Industry consultant Justin Trumbo called Metro Mattress’s collapse a cautionary tale about overextending without adequate capital. Consumer preference for online mattress purchases rose from 27% in 2016 to 54% by 2023.
Grand View Research reports that online sales are growing at an annual rate of 8.2% through 2030, fundamentally undermining the business model of traditional specialty retailers.
Supply Chain & Real Estate Impact
The liquidation removes a Northeastern distribution channel for manufacturers Tempur Sealy, Serta, and Simmons, which controlled 76% of the U.S. market. Tempur Sealy owes $2 million while facing blocked acquisition plans.
Metro’s exit leaves 40-70 vacant retail spaces, adding to commercial real estate oversupply in mall and strip center formats.
Bankruptcy System Questions
Metro Mattress’s failure to reorganize during 13 months of Chapter 11 protection raises questions about the effectiveness of bankruptcy law for small regional retailers facing structural industry changes.
The company’s inability to attract any acquisition offers suggests that capital markets view traditional mattress retail as economically unviable, leaving policymakers to address accelerating job losses.
Retail Survival Test
Metro Mattress’s extinction after 49 years demonstrates that longevity and local reputation no longer guarantee retail survival.
Regional chains without the scale to compete on price, the capital to weather downturns, or the agility to pivot their business models face an existential risk. With 15,000 U.S. stores closing in 2025, other “hometown fixtures” may quietly face similar fates.