What does Gordon Ramsay have in common with Jeff Giagnocavo, co-owner of Gardner’s Mattress & More in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? Well, for starters, neither is afraid to speak their mind. Ramsay’s domain is restaurants, and Giagnocavo’s is the bedding business, but both share a similar philosophy: Don’t make excuses.
“A lot of what our industry creates is self-inflicted,” Giagnocavo said. He pointed to delivery as one example, arguing that retailers set high standards, such as same-day or next-day delivery, and then have to live up to them.
“We just don’t do it,” he said. “And it’s amazing what happens when you don’t create an expectation that creates a pressure logistically and operationally and financially in your company.”
When asked what he credits for his ongoing success — the retail store was founded in 1990 and purchased by Giagnocavo and his business partner Ben McClure in 2011 — he kept it simple: “I just don’t accept that things are bad,” Giagnocavo said. “It’s as simple as that.”
At the start of 2026, Giagnocavo and his business partner set a goal of 35% growth for the year. As of August, the retailer is up 24% year to date. Although Giagnocavo declined to share a specific sales figure, he said the growth is building on millions, not tens of thousands. But that doesn’t mean the retailer is exempt from slow sales days.
“We have zero days, and then we have a monster day the next day, and then we’re back to five tickets sub-$300, when our average ticket is $3,400,” Giagnocavo said.
The difference between Gardner’s and some other retailers, according to Giagnocavo, is their strategy. When business slows down, Gardner’s doesn’t start blasting out messaging offering steep discounts.
“We don’t get desperate,” he added. “We don’t litter our front yard or highways with the same message.”
Giagnocavo believes independent retailers need to stop trying to win a battle they most likely can’t: the price battle. Big-box retailers will win almost every time, he said, so independents need to stop playing.
Instead, Gardner’s focuses on a different message: the value of the product itself.
“Sleep’s the third leg of a healthy life,” he said. “Diet and exercise are the other two.”
That philosophy also informs the way Giagnocavo thinks about the broader opportunity in the bedding business.
“Our economy is growing,” Giagnocavo said. “Why aren’t you growing? That’s what I say to our industry. America is a consumer economy. We sell consumer products. We happen to sell a product that just about every consumer in America uses daily for a third of their day. Seems like a great opportunity for success to me. So we use that equation, and we try to find ways to win. We don’t win on price; we win on better sleep.”
The focus on selling the value of better sleep also extends to the products Gardner’s chooses to put on its showroom floor, as well as its sales team. Giagnocavo also credits the curated products of Gardner’s Mattress for its ongoing success. Rather than stocking the trendiest new companies or as many behemoth brand names as possible, he and his business partner gravitate toward a mix of trusted brands and family-owned companies.
Some examples of the brands Gardner’s carries are Avocado, Bedgear, Cariloha, DreamCloud, DreamFit, Dreamstar, Helix, Nectar and Posh & Lavish.
“It’s our ability to fit, find the right solution,” he said. “It’s our depth and breadth of solutions,” Giagnocavo said.
If someone is really homing in on a certain brand name that they don’t stock, his sales team will explain why they choose not to stock that line and why they choose to sell others.
To help properly communicate the value of good sleep, Gardner’s also invests in its people. Earlier this year, the retailer invested in the Spencer Institute Sleep Science Coach Certification for its sales team, giving employees additional education around the science of sleep and how to help customers find the right solutions.
But for Giagnocavo, the overarching strategy ultimately comes back to mindset: “Whether you think you’re right or wrong, you are. Whatever you say to yourself is gonna be what happens.”
And what he wants retailers to say to themselves is that they can compete without racing to the bottom on price.
That conviction will continue to shape Gardner’s as the retailer looks ahead. In the fall, Gardner’s Mattress will celebrate its anniversary with an event that Giagnocavo said will create fun, energy and connection for its customers. The retailer also plans to have weekly food trucks, treats and contests for travel vouchers.
Also on the horizon is an update to the retailer’s Dream Room, which made waves in the industry when it debuted in the early 2010s. The private room, which looks like a cozy bedroom, gives consumers a chance to rest-test a bed for anywhere from 15 minutes to four hours and has been a hugely successful closing tool for the company since it first opened.
Soon, it will get its first major update. Gardner’s Mattress & More is leaning into the connected bedroom trend that allows various pieces of bedding and accessories to be interconnected via technology to create ideal sleep environments. According to Giagnocavo, the retailer is working on automation packages that it will set up for customers for free. He said testing will be done in a few months and likely launch late September.
Ramsay may have his kitchens, but Giagnocavo has his own recipe for success, and clearly, it’s working.
