McHENRY – Unsurprisingly, Verlo Mattress Factory Stores competes against the top mattress retailers – Sealy, Serta, Tempur-Pedic and the like.

Less obvious is their competition with brands such as GE, Maytag and KitchenAid.

"Mattresses are no longer just competing against other mattress stores," said Ray Westman, owner of Verlo locations in McHenry, Crystal Lake and Lake Geneva, Wis. "In today's economy, because peoples' disposable income is less, now we're competing against, 'Did the washer-dryer breakdown over the weekend?'"