James Franklin McIngvale (born February 11, 1951), also known as Mattress Mack , is a businessman and philanthropist from Houston, Texas. He is known for owning and operating the retail chain Gallery Furniture .
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Biography
McIngvale was born on February 11, 1951, in Starkville, Mississippi. He graduated from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas and studied at North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas, in Denton where he plays football. He and his wife have three children. In 2002, McIngvale co-authored Always Think Big with Thomas Duening and John Ivancevich, who told of the ups and downs of McIngvale's entrepreneurial career. She lives in the Northgate Forest community in an unrelated area in Harris County, Texas. Ericka Mellon of the Houston Chronicle says he is "one of Northgate's most recognizable residents."
McIngvale is famous for its energetic and fast sales, usually ending with several slogan variants "saving you money!" His typical sales style comes from an incident that took place early in the history of Gallery Furniture. Faced with financial difficulties, McIngvale invested all his remaining money, about $ 10,000, in a television commercial to be aired on two stations. While watching the produced ad, he becomes dissatisfied and puts up a sales advertisement, speaking quickly because of the limited time available. Advertising has proven to be very effective, and sales have increased dramatically thereafter.
In 1999, McIngvale addressed the annual British Deming Association conference on the influence of W Edwards Deming on his business method.
In May 2009, the Houston Chronicle reported that McIngvale refused to pay $ 48,000 tax dollars to the larger Northside Management District assessed from 2005 to 2007; he paid taxes to the district in 2008. The northern facilities are within the bounds of the district. McIngvale said the management district was not enough to defend the area; business owners describe the district management tax policy as "taxation without representation." The district demanded McIngvale to force him to pay taxes, and McIngvale said he was willing to deny the charges in court.
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Gallery Furniture
Jim McIngvale started the Furniture Gallery with $ 5,000 and his own pickup truck after the prospective investor did not follow up with the loan being filed. Initially, he did pretty well. But as the oil industry gets worse, he finds his business slowing down dramatically. Taking the last $ 10,000 to his name, Mattress Mack invested in local television commercials in 1983. "I'm making ads, and I'm frustrated," McIngvale said. He continued, "I can not come up with a punch line.Finally, I pulled the money out of my pocket and shouted, 'Gallery Furniture saves your money!'" The phrase was caught and has become famous all over the larger Houston. community. Gallery Furniture, established in 1981, has been consistently ranked in 100 Furniture Furniture Today for some time and is currently ranked as a Sales-per-Square-Foot leader for independent retailers in the United States.. The store has about $ 200 million in sales per year. It initially sells cheaper furniture that is targeted to low-income individuals but has since expanded to include upscale furnishings.
2009 warehouse fires
On May 21, 2009, Gallery Furniture shop on Interstate 45 North between Tidwell and Parker was on fire. No injuries. One hundred and fifty firefighters battled the 4-alarm fire, which did not spread to the inside of the showroom, although it destroyed the warehouse. The fire is believed to be combustion, based on ATF, and a suspect, Robert Gillham, was arrested a few weeks later. Gillham, age 66, is a former employee of Gallery Furniture who was fired in 2007. In 2011, Gillham, who has been imprisoned since his arrest, is mentally considered unfit to be tried by an expert. Harris County District Attorney's assistant Steve Baldassano believes that Gillham is unlikely to be put on trial. The owner of the Furniture Gallery, Jim McIngvale, commented on the situation, saying, "We want to get this behind us, and get some closure in this case, but the court system is a court system and if they say he is incompetent, we will respect any system court rule. "
Charity project
Gallery Furniture is involved in a number of charity projects. It aims to transform, redesign, and revitalize more than 130 USO Centers worldwide, and has become a Worldwide Partner of Strategic Partners worldwide. For 30 years, Gallery Furniture has held an annual Christmas Giveaway, furnishing family homes in the Houston area with new furniture. For the 30th anniversary of this tradition, 30 families received all new furniture, delivered by Gallery Furniture.
Grand Parkway Store
By 2014, the company announced it will open a new store in Fort Bend County, one of the fastest growing districts in the greater Houston area. On June 5, 2014, Gallery Furniture began operating in their new store, in Richmond, Texas. Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is in place, drowning the shovel to the ground with others involved with the construction. In addition to being the location of the largest Furniture Gallery yet at 165,000 square feet, it has room for disabled adults from the Brookwood Community to sell the items they have made. The store opened in June 2015.
Furniture Gallery vs. ad of Hilton Furniture
In 2000, Conan O'Brien held a competition on Late Night with Conan O'Brien between two Houston midnight advertisers, Jim McIngvale ("Save Your Money") from Gallery Furniture and Hilton Koch ("That fact, Jack ") from Hilton Furniture. Hilton Furniture won the Late Night Battle contest of the advertising contest, and O'Brien took Hilton to New York to appear on Late Night and for the advertiser makeover of Foote, Cone & Belding.
Super Bowl XLVIII 2014 promotion
The Furniture Gallery, requested by McIngvale, running a promotion for Super Bowl XLVIII promises customers a full refund on any purchase of more than $ 6,000 if the Seattle Seahawks, chosen as the team of choice with a coin toss, won the Super Bowl. Many customers took advantage of this offer, purchasing furniture worth $ 7,000,000 in the weeks leading up to the game. Seahawks went on to win the game; thus, the customer receives their refund. McIngvale spoke to ESPN, saying, "In the long run, we make many happy customers," and continued, "That's the problem: building a lifelong customer."
Houston Astros Baseball 2014 promotion
In celebration of McIngvale's 63rd anniversary in 2014, Gallery Furniture held a promise of a full return to the first 500 customers who purchased furniture worth $ 6,300 or more if the Houston Astros won 63 or more baseball games in the regular season. The limit of 500 customers is very quickly achieved, and the total refund amount is estimated at $ 4 million if Astros wins 63 matches. Official countdown starts and tends to social media under the "#GFToday", "#MattressMack", and "# Astros4Million" tags. Astros ended the season with 70 wins, 19 more wins than the previous season.
Pedal O-Pedic Mattress
In 2014, McIngvale launches a new line of Mack-O-Pedic mattresses, which is the first and only product that he names. Mattresses are made in America, and designed by McIngvale. He was quoted by UpClose Magazine as saying, "After many years in this business, it is clear what distinguishes a very good mattress from the 'normal'." He continued, stating, "At GF, you will find a variety of great mattresses... including Mack-o-Pedic, made here in the United States, to offer the best quality mattress for the best value."
2017 World Series Campaign
In 2017, Gallery Furniture runs a promotion that will return customers who spend $ 3,000 on mattresses if Astros wins the 2017 World Series. McIngvale also dumps the first pitch for Game 1 ALDS, while also flying 98 fans on a 737 aircraft to Game 6 World Series in Los Angeles , including first responders from Hurricane Harvey. He estimates that he will take $ 10 million from his book, but he also stated that he issued insurance premiums to cover 20% of the losses. On April 6, it was announced by his family that he received the championship ring from the team.
Philanthropy work
Salvation Army
In 2007, Jim McIngvale held a fundraiser at Gallery Furniture for The Salvation Army. This attracted former President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, and former First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush, as the bell rang. McIngvale donated $ 50,000 of his own money to the Salvation Army.
Donate to Mobile Phone Stroke
In 2014, McIngvale contributed to the University of Texas Medical Center at Houston Medical School at and with the Hermann-Texas Memorial Medical Center, to finance some of the first Mobile Stroke units in the United States. The unit itself is an ambulance equipped with computed tomography technology, which allows testing for strokes associated with blood clots on the site. If an emergency officer determines that this is the cause, the patient can then be treated with a tissue plasminogen activator, effectively breaking the blob. Being able to instantly identify whether a person is suffering from a stroke is useful because time is of the essence - every second counts. James C. Grotta, MD, said the time needed to treat a stroke victim, "Since we can arrive so quickly and start a landfill treatment at the scene, we may not only save Osaka's life, but by cutting at precious time, we can help saving millions of brain cells and minimizing residual defects as well. "Jim McIngvale exemplifies his own experience with a stroke while discussing his donation," "I am pleased to hear positive results for patients of the first stroke unit and hope that we will see more of these results as the team continues its work innovative. It is an invaluable service and saves Dr. Grotta and his team provide the Houston community and it is an honor to be able to contribute to the cause so close to my heart. "
2017 Hurricane Harvey
During August 2017, McIngvale opened two galleries of furniture stores as a refuge for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey. The two stores opened are the North Freeway Furniture Gallery and Gallery Furniture Grand Parkway. Furniture stores are also using their biggest displacement truck to rescue people displaced by floods. He has been hailed as a hero in Texas.
Political view
In 2010, Jim McIngvale supported the Tea Party movement. Jim funded a full-page ad for the Tea Party that appeared on the Houston Chronicle . She is a guest speaker along with many local conservative radio hosts for The North Houston Tea Party Patriots at Sam Houston Race Park.
Mcingvale held a political event at Woodlands High School where he interviewed Donald Trump. At this point Trump has not yet announced his candidacy.
At the 2015 Houston mayoral rally, McIngvale endorsed conservative candidate Bill King over Sylvester Turner. Turner won the election.
References
External links
- Mattress Mack Blog
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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