‘Mattress Mack’ to give job training
Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale plans to use surplus space in his biggest stores for community centers aimed at providing job skills to area residents.
“In this age of retailing, we don’t need as much square footage as we used to because so many sales are online,” McIngvale said Friday. “We plan on turning quite a bit of our big stores (on the North Freeway and in Richmond) into community centers and teach job skills to people.”
The first couple of classes will kick off after Labor Day, McIngvale said. The classes haven’t been decided yet, but one would center around helping people earn a commercial driver’s license. He said this was “something that would benefit Gallery Furniture at the same time.”
Gallery Furniture stocks furniture that’s ready for delivery the same day, so having enough truck drivers is important to its business as the rise of e-commerce has contributed to a national shortage of truck drivers.
Other classes will focus on construction skills, metal-working and woodworking skills.
“We think it’s very important to be part of the community and to add value and teach people how to get a job and add skills. It will be a win-win. If the community wins, then the retailer wins,” McIngvale said.
Houston-based Gallery Furniture operates three locations, a 110,000-square-foot store at 6006 North Freeway, a 120,000-squarefoot store at 7227 West Grand Parkway South in Richmond,
and a smaller store at 2411 Post Oak Boulevard near the Galleria.
About 10 percent of the space will be devoted to job skills training, but McIngvale said the portion could grow over time to as much as 50 percent.
McIngvale is talking with such organizations as Houston Community College, Lone Star College, Houston Area Urban League and the University of Houston about forming partnerships to provide training.
There would be designated in-store areas for the classes and Gallery Furniture will, at least initially, handle the conversion of the space in-house.
“We’ve got some classrooms built,” McIngvale said. “It won’t take long to get going.”
McIngvale, who founded the company in 1981, gained recognition for appearing in television commercials holding a fistful of dollars while shouting, “Gallery Furniture really will save you money!”
Today, he’s known for his community initiatives as much as for selling furniture. After Hurricane Harvey, McIngvale opened up his showrooms to shelter storm victims.