Mattress Firm to close up to 700 stores amid bankruptcy filing

Mattress Firm, the largest American mattress retailer, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Mattress Firm said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to close up to 700 stores in certain markets where it has too many locations in close proximity to each other.

The Houston-based retailer will begin to close roughly 200 stores in the coming days.

Mattress firm has been struggling amid a surge of bed-in-a-box online retailers, too many physical stores and an accounting mess at its parent company, Steinhoff International.

The retailer has secured about $250 million in so-called “debtor-in-possession” financing to support its operations under bankruptcy.