Lyndon Johnson was president when a member of the bedding Borreggines first began attending the High Point Market.
Now, 10 presidents later, that tradition continues as Gerry Borreggine and his son, Kyle, head to High Point this week to open Therapedic’s new showroom in Suite 214 at Atrium On Main. Both are looking forward to getting back to High Point, where they feel right at home after decades of market trips.
Three generations of Borreggines have called High Point their market home.
“We were eating grits before we were eating polenta,” chuckles Gerry Borreggine, CEO and president of Therapedic International. “And we are an Italian family.”
The Borreggines are also a mattress family.
Bedding buyer Frank Borreggine started the High Point tradition back in 1965 when he traveled from his Philadelphia home to High Point. Borreggine was a bedding buyer for Lit Brothers, a Philadelphia department store, and he became a regular visitor to High Point, where he looked for mattresses and metal beds.
Growing up, Gerry Borreggine, Frank’s son, heard a lot about the home furnishings industry’s bastion in the South. He made his first trip to High Point with his father in 1984, where he finally got to see the world his father had been describing to him. It was a road trip that put the Borreggines on the road every day. They stayed at a hotel in Burlington, and they crisscrossed the heart of the state, driving to High Point and to Hickory and Lenoir, which were part of the market circuit in those days.
After he left Lit Brothers early in 1977, Frank Borreggine established 40 Winks, a Philadelphia-based sleep shop that grew to become Serta’s largest account, with 23 locations.
The Borreggines turned out in force in High Point in the 1980s, with Frank Borreggine bringing two sons and a daughter to the market as part of the 40 Winks buying group.
Gerry Borreggine ran 40 Winks for decades with his family, and his buying trips to High Point continued into the early 2000s.
After 40 Winks closed, Borreggine jumped over to the wholesale side of the business, joining Therapedic International. As Therapedic president he opened Therapedic’s first corporate showroom in High Point in 2006.
Kyle Borreggine, who helped deliver mattresses for 40 Winks as a high school student and then began working on the sales floor when he was in college, heard a lot about High Point from his father. When he joined Protect-A-Bed in 2008 he made his first trip to High Point, touting the importance of that market to the company’s executives. Protect-A-Bed made its first High Point showing in the friendly confines of the Therapedic showroom in 2010.
“I took the opportunity to bring Protect-A-Bed to High Point,” Kyle Borreggine recalled. “I wanted to get some exposure for the company and our executives thought that was a good idea. It was a successful move and it led Protect-A-Bed to open its own permanent showroom in High Point.”
For years Protect-A-Bed and Therapedic were regular exhibitors in High Point, but both companies later closed their High Point showrooms and concentrated on the bedding-rich market in Las Vegas.
Gerry and Kyle, Therapedic’s vice president of specialty sales, are excited to get back to High Point.
“I’ve got a lot of history there,” Kyle says. “It feels like we are in the right place. High Point is our town, our home base. That’s where we have a home game.”
“Sentimentally, High Point means something to our family,” adds Gerry. “Three generations of our family have been going to High Point and Therapedic is still a family business. People like buying from a family business.”
And he continues to see a bright future in High Point for the mattress category.
“I missed not showing in High Point,” he says. “I love the High Point Market and I still believe that High Point will return as the dominant bedding market.”
His High Point affection still burns strong more than four decades after his first glimpse of the Furniture Capital of the World.
