Roanne Barron

Sleep Concepts, a mattress store chain formerly known as Off-Track Bedding, has closed its stores and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in federal bankruptcy court in Providence.

A statement released by the company yesterday attributed the retail chain’s financial troubles to the overall New England economy, particularly the soft housing market and slowing retail sales, along with increased competition from big-box retailers.

Sleep Concepts, based in Central Falls, operated 16 stores — 7 in Rhode Island and 9 in Massachusetts — according to its Web site. The company is privately owned.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy generally refers to a “reorganization” during which a business attempts to restructure its debts so that it can develop a plan to repay creditors and continue to operate. However, yesterday’s statement from the company’s legal counsel suggested that the retail chain was shutting down.

“Due to the New England economy and the overall economy nationwide, which includes a significant decline in the housing market and retail in general, Sleep Concepts [formerly Off-Track Bedding] was not able to continue,” the company said in a statement e-mailed by its legal counsel, Rodney G. Hoffman. “Sleep Concepts also could not overcome other market competition, as much larger, big-box retailers have stepped in to make an already intense market even more daunting.”

Unclear yesterday was how many employees had lost their jobs due to the shutdown. Hoffman said that “only a handful of office staff” remain at the company.

The company “expects that all affected consumers will be addressed through the bankruptcy process,” the statement said, “and each will be notified in accordance with the proper procedures.”

Calls to stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts yesterday generally went unanswered. However, a woman who answered the phone at the Central Falls store said the company was sold in May to R. Lee White, of Nicholasville, Ky., whom corporate documents filed at the Rhode Island office of the secretary of state list as the company’s president.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, dated Aug. 26, lists about 400 creditors, including the state Taxation Division, Apple Valley mall, Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., United Healthcare., several cities and towns and numerous individuals.

A list of the debts owed has not yet been filed, said a clerk at the Bankruptcy Court.

The company’s lender, Fifth Third bank, in Lexington, Ky., is also listed as a creditor. The bank’s lawyer, Charles A. Lovell, of the Providence law firm Partridge Snow and Hahn, said yesterday he was not authorized to speak with a reporter.

Off-Track Bedding was formerly owned by Thomas A. and Roanne Barron, of North Providence. The first store opened in 1980 in East Greenwich. By 2002, the company had about $10 million in annual sales and about 50 employees, and was planning to open its 10th store in North Attleboro, Thomas Barron told The Providence Journal at the time.

Back then, Barron’s wife, Roanne, was the star in the store’s TV ads, which showed her clicking off a lamp to the phrase: “The lowest prices every night.”

The company’s Web site ( www.offtrackbedding.com) lists the Rhode Island locations: Providence, Middletown, Smithfield, South Kingstown, Warwick, Westerly and Woonsocket. However, at least two of those stores appeared to list phone numbers that no longer belonged to those locations.

larditi@projo.com