With 28 stores across Oregon and the greater Portland metro area, Mattress World Northwest continues to grow by focusing on store training, strategic assortment and merchandising.
Vice President Ryan Bailey tells BNN Editor-in-Chief Alex Milstein that the company has had three record months this year — May, July and August — and has been up nearly every month this year. This year’s Labor Day Monday was up six figures from last year’s Labor Day, and the retailer was up a quarter of a million weekend over weekend.
He attributes much of this success to focusing on their sales process and people and “controlling the controllables.”
“We’re getting better as a team,” Bailey adds. “It’s also a continuation of how we drive traffic to the store. We have rebuilt our website and built a CRM to help drive leads to the store by taking those live leads directly to the salespeople. It’s been a tremendous asset for them. We’ve tried to increase our digital spend, and our targeted advertisements have helped with success.”
The company did make one notable change at the beginning of this year: They dropped TSI and started focusing more on their Serta Simmons Bedding selection.
The reason?
“We’ve always been perfectly neutral and really lean into one major or the other,” Bailey explains. “With Tempur Sealy International’s acquisition of Mattress Firm, Tempur product became even more widely distributed. What it came back to is: How are we going to make ourselves different?”
Bailey acknowledged the power of TSI and feels it’s a great brand, and the decision to drop was not because of any bad blood toward TSI. It was a strategic move based on the company’s insights into their demographic.
Bailey said Mattress World Northwest has had a great relationship with SSB for decades now. “We decided to dare to be different and ask what we can do with those SKUs that are typically physically tied up.”
“You’re competing head to head at price points, so you’re never fully as impactful to one vendor as you could be,” he said. “Now that’s freed up room to bring in brand traffic, as well as some of the amazing new stuff. SSB’s Beautyrest Black XCS, Simmons Luxury and Black Quilted has been doing great for us, and we’ve elevated our showroom to have a more luxury feel.”
Bailey also said the company has been working on offering more abilities and options for consumers.
“If they like a certain technology, we’re able to stack a few of each of those technologies to give the consumer the best experience possible,” he explained. “If you think about it, you have your flagship product, and then the next thing down from there is not really comparable. That doesn’t give the consumer confidence to confirm this is the one they want to buy. Now our consumers can experience a multifaceted technology at all price points with that freedom.”
For struggling retailers, Bailey has this advice: “Don’t worry about the outside noise as much as the things you can control. None of us can control the economy or gas prices, but we can all make sure that we have an effective salesperson in our store and that the store looks good. Control the controllables. I can guarantee that in our industry, the salesperson is one of the most important people involved in making a retail brand. Do the training and evaluate your floor as well as your people. Be open to change.”
Golf for a Cure 2026
Recently, Mattress World Northwest put a spotlight on the challenges of cystic fibrosis with its annual Golf for a Cure Tournament
Bailey said that the company was thrilled to announce a record turnout for its fifth annual event. It raised a record $139,000 this year, and this will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its research for a cure.
“We can’t thank our vendor partners and participants enough for coming out and supporting an amazing cause,” Bailey said. “We had over 80 golfers and additional volunteer support that led to a record donation. We have to give a big shout-out to Serta Simmons Bedding as the Eagle sponsor, and to King Koil for their Annual CF Ambassador support, our top two sponsors for this event. We had additional support as well and we can’t thank everyone enough.”
Other vendor partners included Purple, Avocado, 3z’s, Casper, Aireloom, Prana Sleep, Resident, Dreamfit, Pure Care, Bedgear, Bedtech, Hollywood, Form Piper, Esquire Advertising, Acima, Koalify, Guardsman, Nationwide NMG. (Non Vendor Partners participants Brandsource, Tangoo Media, Valvoline oil.)
“We strive to break this record next year and look forward to many great events ahead. If you’re out there and would like to support an amazing cause while having a great time, reach out to me, and we will get you on the list for next year.”
