Duxiana's low-key success
David Perry -- Furniture Today, August 29, 2004
New York — In the frenetic world of retail in this fast-paced city, Duxiana succeeds by slowing down.
"There's no hurry, hurry, hurry in here," said Stephen Pino, sales manager for Duxiana's company-owned store in downtown Manhattan at 921 Broadway. There are no sale banners in the store windows. The sales pitch is decidedly low key.
Duxiana sells a line of Swedish-made mattresses that offer two or three layers of high coil-count innerspring units. The top two beds in the three-number line, the Dux 2003 and the Dux 7007, come with built-in modules of springs that provide separate zones of support for the shoulders, torso and legs.
The company calls that its patented Pascal system. Consumers can customize the support zones in the various sets of spring modules to suit their own body type and needs. And couples can customize their side of the bed to meet each sleeper's individual preferences.
In addition, the Dux beds are topped with DUXelect, a knitted, zippered cover shell with inserts that include the Pascal spring system or a latex core with cotton cushioning. That top pad is removable, unlike the pillowtop constructions that are built in to most U.S.-produced beds.
The result of that Swedish technology is a bed that "cradles the body in a natural, comfortable position," the company says. The beds retail from about $4,000 to $6,500 in queen. The average sales ticket in the store is about $5,500, Pino said.
"We've got three models in our stores," he said. "We sell them just about equally. There is no good, better, best in a Dux bed."
The beds look different than the typical U.S. mattress, which Pino said is a plus.
"There is a segment of the market that wants something different, something better," he said. "We are based on the European model. We build the best bed we can and then we look at what it costs."
He said U.S. consumers are increasingly interested in European-style sleep systems. That includes the Hastens line, also produced in Sweden, which is for sale at ABC Carpet & Home a few blocks away. "We have respect for each other's products," Pino said.
But he noted that some of the Hastens beds retail at thousands of dollars more than the top Dux bed. "It's nice not to be the most expensive bed in town."
Part of the sales presentation at Duxiana involves getting consumers to slow down long enough to appreciate the comfort and support of the beds.
"People walk in and say our beds are too soft," Pino said. "'Firm' is the most misused word in bedding. It should mean supportive and resilient. It has become interchangeable with 'hard.'"
Most consumers in the United States, he said, "sleep on beds that are way too hard."
In contrast, the Dux beds, with their multiple layers of coils and cushioning materials, are "extremely supportive and very responsive," Pino said. "They are anything but hard."
That's something that Duxiana consumers come to realize when they surrender to the oasis of serenity they find in the Duxiana stores, he said.
UPDATE: Executives leave ABC Carpet & Home
12/17/2008Duxiana's 'sleep rooms' win business
04/13/2005GUS opens boutique at ABC Carpet
03/19/2010High-end Hastens line scores for ABC
08/28/2004
