Vegas bedding diary: From Sealy to Stylution
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 19, 2006
Las Vegas — Six days at the market here took me, literally, from Sealy to Stylution USA, with plenty of bedding stops in between. The "S" brands had much to offer, but so did the "T" brands and the "E" brands. Vegas is a Bedding Bonanza, as these excerpts from my bedding diary will attest:
Sunday, 5 p.m.: My market begins at the Aladdin Hotel, where the real Elvis really got married. Sealy has set up its new Posturepedic lineup in a ballroom. This is Sealy's main showing in Las Vegas and it's an impressive one. I see no Elvis imitators.
Monday, 6:30 a.m.: I'm at the registration tent outside the World Market Center. Where is everyone? The computer system won't be turned on until 7 a.m., I'm told.
Monday, 6:50 a.m.: Now I'm in the Simmons showroom. Breakfast is served at 7 a.m. These Simmons folks don't want any grass to grow under their feet. I order a sausage, mushroom and cheese omelet.
Monday, 7:30 a.m.: Simmons serves up the details on its new bowling ball campaign in an impressively staged briefing, with lots of video highlights.
Monday, 1:30 p.m.: Mannequins wearing Vera Wang dresses greet me at Serta. Vera couldn't make it, but her beds look great.
Monday, 7 p.m.: Kingsdown hosts its "Sleepless in Las Vegas" event at the Venetian. I am sleepless, but I force myself to stay awake by sampling some great appetizers. Showgirls wander in and out of the room. Reluctantly, I agree to be photographed with one.
Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.: Breakfast in Bed at Tempur-Pedic. The new GrandBed is unveiled with much fanfare.
Tuesday, 3 p.m.: Down to the temporary exhibitors at Mandalay Bay. Englander's John Hagglund and Bob Ashburn show me what's new.
Tuesday, 6 p.m.: Leggett & Platt throws its huge market party at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. No one is blue. The spirit is upbeat. Great band. I see friends everywhere.
Wednesday, 6 p.m.: Therapedic welcomes retailers at a Mandalay Bay party. Kathy Ireland mingles with the guests, poses for pictures and makes a speech touting her new Therapedic mattress line. I wonder: How many times has she had her picture taken? I add four more pictures to her lifetime total.
Thursday, 8 a.m.: I make my first trip to the tents at the World Market Center complex, visiting Dormia, where Tim Sommer is off to a good start. There are dozens of bedding companies in the tents, too many for me to visit them all.
Thursday, 10 a.m.: I discuss opportunities in the bedding industry with some investment types over a power breakfast at the Hard Rock. I can say no more.
Friday, 8:30 a.m.: Breakfast with a well-known bedding executive. Details later.
Friday, 11 a.m.: Back at the WMC's tents. Kaymed, the Irish visco company, has a neat new memory foam cell. I love those Irish accents.
Friday, noon: Stuart Carlitz tells me how Eclipse is going to eclipse the competition.
Friday, 3 p.m.: With my Energy Meter running low, I visit Ed Scott in his Stylution USA space. He has had a great market, he tells me. This is my last showroom visit at market, I tell him. His beds look sharp.
Friday, 4 p.m.: I see Serta's Bob Sherman and Barbara Bradford outside the World Market Center. It has been a good week for Serta, they tell me.
Friday, 5:30 p.m.: Dinner with a bedding friend at Caesars Palace. A single malt Scotch takes the edge off a long day and a long week. The market has driven me to drink. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Friday, 10 p.m.: Waiting for a cab at Caesars, I run into Eric Delaby of Deslee Textiles. He gets the distinction of being my last bedding interview at this market.
Friday, 11:45 p.m.: I leave on a jet plane. Another Vegas bedding market is finally in the books.
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Vegas bedding diary: From Sealy to Stylution
Feb 16, 2006
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