Where do you shop?

Some department stores carry mattress lines with good, affordable price tags but with limited range. A store that is specifically dedicated to just one product, like a mattress, should provide you the best possible deals available. They have dedicated staff that absolutely know what they have to offer, so that they can properly assist you in finding the mattress you want.

Bargain stores have great deals but a careful inspection may be required as the mattress may obviously not provide you best comfort a few years down the line. In the long run, deals from stores like this may cost you more money.

Major mattress stores have an extensive product line and what’s more, they do carry huge sales that may benefit you.

bargain_stores, buying mattress, keetsa mattress store, mattress_store, mattress_stores ]]> http://mattresszine.com/mattress-shopping/good-mattress-stores/feed/ 0 http://mattresszine.com/mattress-news/running-the-mattress-business-the-old-fashion-way/ http://mattresszine.com/mattress-news/running-the-mattress-business-the-old-fashion-way/#comments Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:09:42 +0000 Lilian http://mattresszine.com/mattress-news/running-the-mattress-business-the-old-fashion-way/ Ron Trzcinski runs the Original Mattress Company, a Cleveland based establishment with about 11 factories and 100 mattress stores spread across the Midwest. His experience in the business is a good 40 years, nearly, and this includes some 18 years with Sealy Corp. Despite the changes in the industry, Trzcinski still applies the most basic concepts in mattress selling and is regarded highly in the business for his expertise.

Trzcinski wanted to demystify the process of buying a bed. He said he didn’t like the practice of manufacturers selling basically the same product with different names and fabrics through different retailers, making it hard for consumers to compare. Nor did he like high-pressure sales tactics or the fake urgency of some retailers’ markdowns.

So he adopted a nine-point philosophy for the company, emphasizing such qualities as excellence, value, courtesy and honesty. It’s posted in Original Mattress Factory stores and underscored in an orientation video shown to new employees.

Transparency in the manufacturing process is important to him, too. Customers are shown cutaway models of each mattress’s construction, along with models of the innersprings and the box springs. In the factories, customers can watch the manufacturing process — machines quilting fabric for covers and employees assembling layers of padding and springs, stitching the binding that joins the tops and sides and upholstering the box springs.

Customers also can see some competitors’ mattresses alongside one made by the Original Mattress Factory, all with the layers peeled back so they can compare what’s inside.

Trzcinski has stuck with the old ways, eschewing trendier viscoelastic ”memory” foam and air mattresses for innerspring types and a few models with latex or polyurethane foam cores. He sees problems with the newcomers’ performance, he said, and they just don’t meet his value standards.

More from this site.

Barrie Brown, President and CEO of Mattress Giant, said the acquisition of both Clearwater Mattress and Mattress Expo is part of the company’s goal to expand. “These two strategic growth opportunities are part of our year-long expansion and growth and these two key markets have tremendous future potential for our company,” Brown said.

Don’t just be limited to bouncing the mattress with your hand or sitting on the edge of it, to know if it’s soft enough. Ask that you be able to lie on the bed to check on the quality or firmness of the mattress against your weight and body. If the mattress store doesn’t give you this pleasure, take your money elsewhere.

Make sure that while you’re testing out mattresses, you have comfortable clothes on. And don’t go mattress shopping when you are super tired. Because if that’s the case, all mattresses you test will feel very good to you.

(Photo image searched from Blingo)

But the lower bunk need not be ignored. Some parents try and make the lower bed more appealing by making it a bigger area and adding all sorts of bedding accessories, including toys, there. You could also put a softer and more comfortable mattress on the lower bunk, to encourage kids to choose that area over the top bunk. It might put an end to all the arguments.

Photo of bunk bed frame from Kids Bedroom
Looking for comfortable mattresses for bed bunks? Visit the Keetsa Mattress Store

Study the store where you will be buying the mattress from. Getting ripped-off on the internet is very common. But don’t also discount the fact that there are good and reputable online mattress stores around.

Does the company have a secure payment system? As with any online shopping activity, you have to make sure your identity is protected.

Shipping cost need not be astronomical. Before purchasing one from an online store, check how much everything will come down to when the freight cost is included. If you have been shopping around other online store, you then have a better comparison. Some stores even offer free or low cost shipment. In an online store, that is actually a good strategy.

Check these online mattress stores for big savings:
Bedzine Mattress Store
Keetsa Mattress Store

But if old habits die hard and you still aren’t convinced of getting a memory foam, stores still sell egg-carton style foam pads, a whole lot cheaper than when they went for ten years ago. Although, honestly, once you have tried lying on a memory foam, you will notice a huge difference in terms of softness, thickness, comfortability and of course, the price. Compared to memory foams, a thick synthetic pad might be too warm to sleep on.

Buying a mattress today involves a little bit of trial and error. And yes, while that may seem to complicate things because of the hundreds of choices available to the consumer, mattresses today are considered investments. Maybe begin with something smaller and less expensive, like a memory foam topper, which you can put on top of your regular mattress.

Sure, sofa beds are used but once in a while. Usually, they are only taken out when extra bedding is needed for guests. It doesn’t seem to make sense in investing one with high quality. As such, sofa beds have such terrible reputation. I’m sure you don’t relish sleeping on it yourself. But if you are the guest of the house, you would expect to sleep in a warm and comfortable bed, yes? Providing the best sleeping area for your guests is what every good hosts do.

You can actually have any type of sofa bed but the secret is in the sofa bed mattress. It’s cheaper to invest in the mattress rather than the whole sofa bed. Visit mattress stores, shop around and inquire from the salespeople and you will find a good number of choices that will fit your preference.

Photo from Priva Inc

Norma and Bob Gentry really hated shopping for a new mattress. After finishing a bedroom addition to their San Clemente home, the Tucson couple decided they couldn’t bear to move their ancient king-size set into the new digs. So off they went, trudging to department stores, specialty centers, furniture stores and everywhere else they could think of. “Everything we looked at was at least $1,500,” Norma Gentry recalls. “We didn’t really have it, and we didn’t want to spend $2,000 on a bed.” Finally, late last year, they found sleep nirvana — at Costco. They settled on an approximately $850 set from Sealy Posturepedic, knocked the price down with a coupon, then added a memory-foam mattress topper.

They’re as happy as if they spent that $2,000. “It was so much cheaper, and it couldn’t be any better,” said Norma Gentry, a partner in ProVentures, a Tucson public relations firm. Her advice to the would-be mattress purchaser is succinct: “Buyer beware.”

The Gentrys are not alone in finding the world of mattresses, foundations and sleep systems a bewildering, often frustrating one. Last June, when a well-known consumer research organization published the results of its in-depth study of the products, the conclusions waved the white flag of surrender — buy what’s comfortable and stick to name brands. “Don’t let the salesperson tell you what mattress is best for you,” said Kerry Heaps, regional sales manager for the Tucson-based Bedmart. “We can, of course, listen to your needs and recommend things for you. But you are the customer, and the customer has to lie on the mattress and determine what feels best.”

But how does the innocent consumer tell what’s going to be comfortable for the next decade?

Here — gathered from mattress stores and manufacturers, Web sites and recent mattress purchasers — is some of the information you need to find the right mattress set for you. And maybe even save some money, too.