Mattress veteran Chase joins Sherwood Bedding

David Perry -- Furniture Today, December 17, 2012

Leon Ellman, left, and Neil Ellman, right, welcome Mark Chase to Sherwood Bedding.FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Sherwood Bedding is adding mattress industry veteran Mark Chase to its ranks, the company said.
     Chase, who most recently headed the bedding business at Florida-based retailer Badcock Home Furniture & more, will have a number of responsibilities at Sherwood, said Neil Ellman, a member of the family that founded and operates Sherwood.
     "With our growth we need to bring on dynamic individuals like Mark Chase," he said. "He will focus on our business on the Eastern Seaboard and on national projects. He will also handle key issues on a corporate level."
     Fort Lauderdale-based Sherwood Bedding, launched by bedding veterans Leon, Neil and Lance Ellman two years ago, has factories in Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix, with more factories on the drawing board, the company said.
     The Ellmans launched International Bedding in the 1970s and built it into a Top 10 bedding producer before selling the business a few years ago.
     Sherwood operates high tech bedding factories unlike traditional mattress plants, enabling it to provide strong values to retailers, the company says.
     "There is a huge void in the market for supplying retailers who take a strategic approach to their business," Neil Ellman said. "The opportunity is greater than we initially imagined."
     Sherwood is a private-label bedding supplier to Badcock, which gave Chase a good look at the Sherwood operation. "Sherwood represents the next phase of mattress manufacturing," Chase said. "They do things differently."
     Sales of Sherwood's bedding products have grown rapidly at Badcock, he said.
     Sherwood's basic innerspring line retails from $399 to $1,499, while its Lumina line of encased coil sleep sets and other designs retails from $799 to $2,999. The Evo specialty sleep line, featuring gel and other specialty foams, retails from $999 to $4,999.
     Neil Ellman said the Evo line was successfully tested on the West Coast and is now being rolled out to retailers in other parts of the country.
     Leon Ellman, who is playing a strategic role at Sherwood Bedding, said he's pleased with the progress Sherwood is making. "I can see that we are making consistent quality because of the high-tech machinery we are using," he said.