Our Best In Bedding event at the recent Las Vegas Market was an afternoon of celebration and inspiration, one that attracted about 200 A-list mattress retailers and manufacturers. It was the industry’s top bedding event of the year.
We presented Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale of Gallery Furniture with a Bedding Legend award, and he graced us with an insight-packed address. He received a standing ovation, a nice testament to his remarkable career.
We also honored Best In Bedding retailers in the country’s five regions.
Raymour & Flanigan, of Liverpool, New York, our Northeast winner, was recognized for its strong mattress presentations, its well-trained, professional salespeople and its ability to sell luxury mattresses. Pat Judd and Holly Saarie accepted the award for Raymour & Flanigan.
Our Midwest winner, Gardner White Furniture of Auburn Hills, Michigan, was singled out for its leading position in mattress sales in Michigan, offering strong values at a variety of key price points and also standing out with its assortment of adjustable bed bases, pillows and protectors. Neil Zimmer, Nicole Murphy and Kevin Aldred accepted the award for Gardner White.
In the Southeast, we honored City Furniture of Tamarac, Florida. We recognized City Furniture for its strong offering of leading mattress brands and a value bedding assortment robust enough to compete with online retailers, a notable accomplishment. Keith Koenig accepted the award for City Furniture.
Our Southwest winner was Mattress Direct, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, known for offering top-quality mattresses at affordable prices and stressing the importance of quality sleep for a healthier, happier life. Jose Budde and Lorenzo Bynum accepted the award for Mattress Direct.
And in the West, we honored BedMart of Wilsonville, Oregon, a family-owned retailer. We recognized BedMart for its highly trained sleep experts, its commitment to carrying a broad range of mattress brands and its sleep accessories offerings. Elana Stone accepted the award for BedMart.
We wrapped our program up by saluting Mattress Mack, one of the best-known executives in mattress retailing. I noted that while he’s a great promoter who sells a lot of mattresses, what he’s really selling is better sleep.
In his address, McIngvale presented a masterclass in why the industry should sell better sleep, not cheaper sleep.
“Go buy a new car,” he said. “See if you can buy it for what you paid for it 20 years ago. Go buy a new house in any big city for less than $500,000. And yet we are lowering mattress prices. Like a dog chasing a tire, what do you do when you catch that tire?
“Customers stretch when they buy a new home,” he continued. “They stretch when they buy a new car. Isn’t a mattress just as important? And sleep is essential to life and well-being and health and cognitive ability and weight control and to our immune system and to our cardiovascular system, yet we insist on chasing to the bottom.
“You don’t build anything by looking down,” he said, preaching the gospel of better sleep with missionary zeal. “You build by looking up, up, up, said Fulton Sheen. We need to go up in quality. We need to go up in the benefits to the customer. We need to go up in benefits to young children. How many customers come in and say, ‘I want a cheap mattress for my child for the most important growing years of their life?’ We need to go up in benefits to a giant, and I mean a giant aging population. We need to go up in salespersons’ expertise, experience and compensation.”
There is no one in the industry better able to preach that message than Mattress Mack. Our audience followed his every word carefully, fully aware that they were listening to a bedding legend. Thanks, Jim, for your inspirational talk.
Thanks to Andmore for helping us present our Best In Bedding event and thanks to sponsors Bread Financial and Serta Simmons Bedding for their strong support. Look for another Best In Bedding event from us at the summer Las Vegas Market next year.
