John Brown and his partner James Trent have reopened the Metro Mattress on Veteran’s Memorial Drive after the previous owners declared bankruptcy and the store had to close last fall.
“We knew it wasn’t going to come out of bankruptcy, and I had for two years prior to that been trying to get an investment group together to buy Metro Mattress to keep it going. And then I wasn’t successful at that. But James Trent, who is my partner at Metro Mattress, used to be the VP of Sales here. He left before I did, and he opened a store in Cleveland, Ohio, that was a furniture and mattress store. So, when he came to me last October, he said, “Hey, do you want to give this a go? So rather than try to buy Metro Mattress, I just reached out to landlords, and we just took over leases. When we first opened, we were called Rooms Today Mattress, which is the name of his company in Ohio, and then I was able to secure the name and the intellectual property for Metro Mattress from the previous owner in January. So, then we were really able to escalate things,” says John Brown, Executive Vice President at Metro Mattress.
Brown says he had to change nothing about the building and just move in. The signage had not changed either.
“We just had to move product in, and that was it. So yeah, how great is that? All our stores have been the same.”
Nita Genova, Dom Genova/owners of the building, Brian Cousins/ President, Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, John Brown/Metro Mattress, Xoum Thiphavong/Store Manager, Dylan Tamblin /Assistant Manager, Amanda Merrilees/Sales Trainer for Serta Simmons bedding.
Brown and Trent have opened six stores since this past December. Two in the Syracuse area, one in New Hartford/Utica, Cortland, Horseheads and Webster.
“Dom (Genova) was still the owner of this building,” says Brown, as Metro Mattress leased the location with the previous owner.
“I knew him just through dealing with him prior with Metro Mattress, and all of these folks got burned by the previous Metro Mattress. We had leases that we didn’t honor. You know, so although I called them up, you know, I said, “This is a new business venture, same name. You know, would you be interested? And really, I’ve been very, very pleased, and Dom has been amazing, amazing.”
Dom Genova is currently a radio host of the show No Nonsense Roundtable which airs on WHAM1180 in Rochester every Saturday10AM-11AM. In 2025, Dom wrote a book “Don’t be Taken For a Ride” an insider’s guide to car shopping tricks and scams. Previously, he and his wife franchised s new car dealership in 1994, Genesee Valley Chrysler Dodge Jeep & Genesee Valley Ford in Avon, going from 8 employees to 85. He sold the dealership in 2020.
Brown says things came together after hiring Xoum Thiphavong/Store Manager, and Dylan Tamblin /Assistant Manager. Xoum has previously worked at Metro Mattress and drives in from Buffalo each day. Dylan is from the Batavia area.
“We’ve been very fortunate when we opened our stores. Not only did we find the locations we had that we knew were good, but we also found we were able to have the staff from there. So really, it’s employee owned and operated, and that’s really the the best part about this right now.”
Brown has been with Metro Mattress since 2011.
“James and I right now are the ownership part of it, but we’re going to be opening that up to everybody soon. But they’re all former Metro people. Dylan is new to us, but we don’t have any store where we have not somebody from the former Metro there because we want that culture.”
The company has been around for 50 years.
“It was originally opened as one store in Syracuse, New York, in 1976. So, so you know, through many iterations and things, it’s our 50th year, and we’re having a party in September in Syracuse where I’ve got the older folks coming that used to work that built up Metro Mattress, and I’ve got all of our current folks, and we’re having a little thank you celebration.”
Video of Ribbon Cutting with the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce on Friday afternoon at Metro Mattress at 4187 Veteran’s Memorial Drive
The store had a soft opening in May and held a Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting this past Friday. Brown says he is excited to be back in Batavia.
“When Max Pies announced their closing, it was a little bit of a hiccup for us because you know they were selling stuff 70% off. You know that’s fine. I mean, I hate to see them go out there as an institution here, but you know, anyone that was in the market for a mattress was going to go there first, obviously, because you get a discount. But things have really been rebounding for us, and traffic’s been good, and you know it’s a good spot for us, and it always has been. And now I’ve got the right team in place, and that’s the most exciting part because the store is important, but the people in the store is what makes it.”
