Sleepy’s owner plans layoffs, will keep warehouse, office on LI

The new owner of mattress retailer Sleepy’s plans to keep open its large office and warehouse in Hicksville, though some employees there have been told they will be laid off, a top executive said.

Sleepy’s president Adam Blank said, “While there will be some natural job loss due to the acquisition, we have made a number of long-term employment offers working out of the Hicksville office, with more on the horizon.”

He added, “We are actively hiring new employees to work out of the Hicksville corporate office.” He did not provide numbers, in terms of those losing jobs and those being hired.

The mattress chain had 636 employees at the 450,000-square-foot Hicksville office and warehouse last year, according to a report from Empire State Development, the state’s primary business-aid agency. ESD provided a $1.5 million grant to Sleepy’s in 2010 to support the Hicksville facility.

In December, Mattress Firm Holding Corp. of Houston announced plans to purchase Sleepy’s for $780 million. The deal has since closed.

“Mattress Firm and Sleepy’s have no intention of closing the New York corporate headquarters and warehouse in Hicksville,” Blank said in a statement last week. “We have a long-term lease on the facility and will continue to make deliveries from the Hicksville facility supporting our store locations from New York City to Montauk.”

He also said the workers being laid off would be notified “with ample time” and that the company would provide a severance package and job placement services.

SEE PHOTOS7 LI companies that got tax breaks, left anyway

Sleepy’s, which has roots that date back to 1931, has about 3,400 employees, including those at its stores.