Jacksonville Bedding, Mattresses and More, owned by Tara Day and Vernon “RJ” Williams, is a testament to the fact that selling the idea of better sleep health and wellness is the way to a successful mattress business.
The family-owned retailer was founded in 2008 and was previously owned by Day’s uncle. But when Williams and Day took over in 2022, the business moved locations and was brought to a new level by focusing on each customer’s individual sleep needs.
The company is the only mattress retailer selling direct-to-consumer mattresses in northeast Florida and offers free nationwide shipping to the lower 48 states. It prides itself on only selling quality products that the owners themselves would sleep on, and this key change in its business model has paid off big time.
When the business partners took over the business, yearly sales were sitting around $250,000. The next year, the number rose to nearly $400,000. This year, that number has already jumped to $1.1 million and Williams says the store is on track to end the year at $1.3 million.
Williams credits this success to the fundamental change in how the store is run.
“We’ve really stepped up our skills and processes, which have changed dramatically,” he says. “From changing our outlook and atmosphere to become a no-pressure sales environment focused on the health and wellness of each consumer, we have transformed the store into something completely different than it was.”
This was no small undertaking, and Williams says they had help from industry insiders like sales expert Pete Primeau, Gardner’s Mattress and More co-owner Jeff Giagnocavo and Scott Vaughn of Sit ‘n Sleep. “We leaned into our mattress community to find the best approaches to the sales process, and they were a great help,” Williams says.
Today, the retailer is trusted by over 100 chiropractic and pain management centers across the U.S. And though it has proven its commitment to customers around the country, it has also been recognized by its community in northern Florida.
This year the company was voted the best mattress store in northeast Florida in the Bold City Best Community Choice Awards for its blend of personalized service, high-quality products and commitment to customer satisfaction.
Talking to Williams and hearing how passionate he is about the business, there’s no question that the success of the store is also in large part due to the type of people who run the shop.
Williams and Day are mattress nerds — in the best way — and they have proven that a simple update in sales tactics can work wonders for a mattress retailer. Their story is a lesson to other retailers in the industry that mattress sales is no longer about the money — it’s about the people.
