ComforPedic Retail Tour: Ad lessons in Agawam

AGAWAM, Mass. - The drive to the Simmons factory here from the airport in Hartford, Conn., was vintage New England: Stone fences, stately old homes and beautiful vistas. The colors are changing as autumn invades the Northeast.

One thing that hasn’t changed, I learned, is the need for mattress retailers to keep promoting. That point was driven home at the open house the Simmons factory here is hosting. And the ComforPedic Loft Showroom on Wheels, which I’m following for the next few days, is right in the middle of the action. It is parked in front of the factory and it is a nice-looking showroom, displaying mattresses to good advantage.

Business in New England is difficult, retailers told me here. But this is not a time to trim advertising, the bedding experts say.

“We haven’t cut back on advertising,” said Rob Beanland, president of Vermont Bedrooms in Rutland, Vt., who drove down to the open house Wednesday with his brother, Bill, who is vice president of the company. The two admitted that their business is even or maybe slightly ahead of last year.

“Even is the new up,” I told them. They agreed. They said they are watching expenses carefully, trimming here and there, but staying the course in their ad spend. They aren’t sure exactly why they are doing so well, relatively speaking, this year. But they are smart enough to know that they can’t cut back on advertising.

RETAIL LESSONS: I asked Shawn Slattery, vice president of sales in New England for Simmons, what advice he would offer for retailers in this challenging business climate. “You need good people,” he said. “You also need to promote. You can’t hold back. You need creative ways to promote. You also need to understand the times and change with them.” That may mean shifting dollars from “old media” to “new media,” he said.

Vermont Bedrooms is embracing the Internet, the Beanland brothers told me when I interviewed them here. Their Web site is “probably our best advertising source right now,” Bill Beanland said.

GEOGRAPHY LESSONS: You probably figured this out already, but Agawam is an Indian name. It means: Place of Pocketed Coils. (OK, I made that up to see if you are paying attention.) Seriously, Agawam is thought to mean “unloading place” or “fish-curing place,” according to Wikipedia. So when trucks unload bedding components at the Simmons factory in Agawam, they are paying homage, in their own way, to the early days of the Indian village. Another interesting fact, courtesy of Wikipedia: Agawam’s ZIP code of 01001 is the lowest such number in the continental U.S., excluding ZIP codes used for government buildings.

GOOD EATS: Today I’ve been eating corn, as in candy corn and popcorn, two of my favorite food groups. Yes, I’m eating on the run. Hey, this open house is just like market. Time to get a candy bar.

LEARNING ABOUT LOFT: It’s no secret that higher-priced beds are taking some hits in this tough economy. Simmons is aiming to expand the market for memory foam beds with its new ComforPedic Loft line. It has slashed the starting price point for the ComforPedic line from $1,999 to $999 with the new models, bringing the line within reach of a much larger consumer segment. The Loft line is positioned as a value alternative to higher-priced memory foam lines. But Simmons says the new Loft beds don’t sacrifice the benefits of the NxG foam that is the hallmark of ComforPedic, a specialty sleep brand that Simmons acquired two years ago.

COMING TOMORROW: A “providential” stop.