dankspeed
dankspeed HalfDork
1/9/20 12:12 p.m.

 

Hey all,

 

looking into a potential venture selling mattresses. I know it sounds wierd but does anyone have any connections to or knowledge of some distributors I can reach out to?

 

Thanks

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
1/9/20 1:45 p.m.

A Shot in the Dark Mattresses.  There's your business name, right there.

Stampie
Stampie GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
1/9/20 2:00 p.m.

This is a local manufacturer here in Jacksonville.

Coleman Mattress Co

4809 Main St N, Jacksonville, FL 32206
(904) 356-6103 https://g.co/kgs/tUetCK

tomtomgt356
tomtomgt356 GRM+ Memberand Reader
1/9/20 2:05 p.m.

I don't know anything about the mattress business, but before you buy a building check to see what it used to be. The sketchy strip club near my college closed and became a used mattress shop...

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/9/20 2:07 p.m.

I was staying at a hotel in Portland one time while they were remodeling the rooms.

There was a 40’ open container in the parking lot where they were dumping old mattresses.

The kaleidoscopic array of multi-colored stains that were generally (but not always) centered around the midsections was both mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time.

#thatwhichcannotbeunseen

I know dankspeed, not helpful; sorry.

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
1/9/20 2:26 p.m.
tomtomgt356 said:

I don't know anything about the mattress business, but before you buy a building check to see what it used to be. The sketchy strip club near my college closed and became a used mattress shop...

If only there was a way to combine these two excellent business models.... Try Before you Buy, something, something, ???

dlmater
dlmater GRM+ Memberand Reader
1/9/20 3:11 p.m.

I have 20+ years experience leading businesses with supply relationships, in part, to the mattress industry; including development and toll production of finished (retail-ready) mattresses for many of the big "S's".  Have insider knowledge of your would-be competition, marketing/branding strategies, technical and current market trends.  Challenging business, rapidly changing given e-commerce and Chinese import pressures.

Happy to have a conversation with you to help.  PM me your number if interested and I'll try to give you a call.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
1/9/20 3:26 p.m.
RX Reven' said:

The kaleidoscopic array of multi-colored stains that were generally (but not always) centered around the midsections was both mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time.

The Dirty Jobs segment where Mike worked a mattress recycler was most entertaining, in that "please help me I can't look away" kind of way.

 

secretariata
secretariata GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/9/20 6:55 p.m.

Look closely at how many mattress stores are servicing the area you are looking at.  They seem to be more popular that Starbucks around here and always having sales.  Seems like it would be a challenging way to make a living in this neighborhood...

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy UltimaDork
1/9/20 7:02 p.m.
secretariata said:

Seems like it would be a challenging way to make a living in this neighborhood...

Wife bought the king mattress in a box that is foam and unfolds.  Two weeks later we hate it.  One more week later we still hate it so she calls Costco three times and they assure her she can return it.  But it won't go back in the box - no problem - bring it back so we did.  
 

In the Chicago 'burbs I agree competition is tough.  

noodle
noodle GRM+ Memberand Reader
1/9/20 8:03 p.m.

Check out a podcast "Freakonomic"....They did a feature a couple years ago about the mattress market.. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

 

Steve_Jones
Steve_Jones Reader
1/9/20 8:40 p.m.
dlmater said:

I have 20+ years experience leading businesses with supply relationships, in part, to the mattress industry; including development and toll production of finished (retail-ready) mattresses for many of the big "S's".  Have insider knowledge of your would-be competition, marketing/branding strategies, technical and current market trends.  Challenging business, rapidly changing given e-commerce and Chinese import pressures.

Happy to have a conversation with you to help.  PM me your number if interested and I'll try to give you a call.

Well the shot in the dark hit. Go figure. 

Pete Gossett
Pete Gossett GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/9/20 9:30 p.m.

The new thing here are places called "Mattresses by appointment". My hunch is they're selling them out the back of a semi trailer, but I'm not going to find out. 
 

We bought a memory foam mattress from Amazon last year. It had generally great reviews & was touted as being very plush. It was more firm than our 10-year old Tempupedic, which is WAY more firm than it was 10-years ago... I contacted Amazon about returning it. They said to keep it & donate, resell, or whatever, and they refunded our $$. So we replaced our guest room mattress with it. 

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
1/9/20 9:51 p.m.

I bought a pretty basic mattress at Ikea. I don't hate it. Best part, no dude in a tie banking his dinner on whether or not I buy my activities area from him. If you do sell beds, be super chill. I thought used car salesmen were bad, and then I went to buy a bed. 

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/10/20 11:18 a.m.

Work on your creepy radio ads.  For a while when my wife and I were dating I used to drive up to Albany late nights for my days off and there was a guy named Resnick (sp?) that seemed to have bought every commercial on every station.  He made it sound like his kids and grandkids were toiling away in a mattress sweatshop somewhere.  

dankspeed
dankspeed HalfDork
1/10/20 12:59 p.m.
dlmater said:

I have 20+ years experience leading businesses with supply relationships, in part, to the mattress industry; including development and toll production of finished (retail-ready) mattresses for many of the big "S's".  Have insider knowledge of your would-be competition, marketing/branding strategies, technical and current market trends.  Challenging business, rapidly changing given e-commerce and Chinese import pressures.

Happy to have a conversation with you to help.  PM me your number if interested and I'll try to give you a call.

Wow. Indeed the shot in the dark I was hoping for.

I'd love to have a conversation and hear what you have to say. I'll PM you now.

 

Thanks again!

dankspeed
dankspeed HalfDork
1/10/20 1:06 p.m.
Pete Gossett said:

The new thing here are places called "Mattresses by appointment". My hunch is they're selling them out the back of a semi trailer, but I'm not going to find out. 
 

We bought a memory foam mattress from Amazon last year. It had generally great reviews & was touted as being very plush. It was more firm than our 10-year old Tempupedic, which is WAY more firm than it was 10-years ago... I contacted Amazon about returning it. They said to keep it & donate, resell, or whatever, and they refunded our $$. So we replaced our guest room mattress with it. 

Not sure who they get their mattresses from but I have looked into their bussiness model and they simply don't have a store front in an expensive location. They use appointments so they don't need to have staff there all day, everyday and use mainly social media to garner sales.

 

dankspeed
dankspeed HalfDork
1/10/20 1:07 p.m.
noodle said:

Check out a podcast "Freakonomic"....They did a feature a couple years ago about the mattress market.. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

 

Thanks for posting. I gave it a listen. Interesting info shared there.

 

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia Dork
1/10/20 1:29 p.m.

what is the mattress company with a 10-20 year warranty ?

there was someone on the radio  a couple months ago that returned his after 8 years for a new one , 

he had to argue some but they finally did it....

I am sure that 10 year warranty is built into the price and only a few percent will ever return one.

 

Mark L
Mark L GRM+ Memberand Reader
1/10/20 1:53 p.m.
Wally said:

Work on your creepy radio ads.  For a while when my wife and I were dating I used to drive up to Albany late nights for my days off and there was a guy named Resnick (sp?) that seemed to have bought every commercial on every station.  He made it sound like his kids and grandkids were toiling away in a mattress sweatshop somewhere.  

Resnick was a creep.

https://www.recordonline.com/article/20001114/News/311149983

 

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