common belief is so many stores selling a rarely bought product has to be laundering The real game is buying up long leases in new strip malls, running a store that is cheap to run, maybe selling just enough to break even on the rent. The surrounding area starts to grow and the landlord can charge higher rents except to the freakin mattress store which has locked in cheap rent for 20 years. Furthermore the mattress place doesn't add value to the rest of the strip mall because of low foot traffic. The landlord is left with 2 options: Buy out the mattress store's lease or let the store sublease.