In this column, Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy profiles Gallery Furniture owner “Mattress Mac” Jim McIngvale, who transformed a run-down location on Houston’s near northside over the past 20 years into a furniture sale and distribution center that generates over $100 million in annual revenues.
Everyone in Houston knows Mattress Mac because of the idiosyncratic television commercials in which he frenetically hawks his store’s furniture and immediate delivery service, punctuated by his trademark “Gallery Furniture saves you money!” declaration. But under that playful exterior is a savvy businessman who has built an extraordinary business based on simple principles — a broad selection, easy access, quick service and same-day delivery. In many ways, Mattress Mac’s business success reflects why the Houston area is such a good incubator of new business. With low barriers to entry, no zoning, relatively few regulations and a public that prefers low prices and quick service to allegiance to brand name stores, Houston provided the perfect launching pad for Gallery Furniture’s success.

Some folks look down their noses at Gallery Furniture, but I’ve always admired Mac’s operation as an utterly unpretentious business that delivers its product and service in a remarkably efficient manner. Here is a case in point. On a Sunday evening late last summer, my wife mentioned to me that she had spent the previous Saturday afternoon trudging around furniture stores near our home with one of our sons unsuccessfully looking for an easy chair for one of our son’s college apartment. Inasmuch as wandering around furniture stores is not how most young college-age men prefer to spend their Saturday afternoons, our son was a bit discouraged because they had not found anything within the price range that my wife and I had set.
It was about only 7 p.m., so I suggested that we make the half-hour drive down to Gallery Furniture to check out its selection. We arrived there at 7:45 p.m. and, immediately after we walked into the store, a salesperson was helping us browse through the huge selection of easy chairs. In less than a half hour, we had found a nice chair and it took us less then 10 minutes to pay for it and arrange for delivery of the chair to our home later than evening. We returned home by 9 p.m. and, promptly at 10:15 p.m., a van pulled up to deliver the chair. Thus, by the time our son returned home later that evening from a movie, he found his new chair sitting in our living room. He could not have been more pleased, particularly that he was not going to have to shop any further for a chair.
Although a broad selection and quick service are important components of Gallery Furniture’s appeal, my wife and I caught a glimpse of the primary reason for the company’s success as we were leaving the store that evening. At 8:30 p.m. on a late August Sunday evening, Jim McIngvale was at his store’s front desk, helping customers and directing his sales staff. Regardless of what you think about Mac’s style, it’s hard not to admire that type of dedication to his company, even well after it has become a business juggernaut. Sometimes success in business is complicated, but Mattress Mac reminds us that, most of the time, it is quite simple.