Bedding Today
David Perry Bedding Editor Hi! I'm David Perry, the bedding editor for Furniture/Today. This is an online version of my Bedding Today column, which appears weekly in the pages of Furniture/Today. I invite you to take advantage of this blog format to share your comments on the topics that I tackle each week..
Bedding Conference focuses on female consumers
Our upcoming Bedding Conference, set for the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Fla., May 5-7, is focusing on the key drivers of the mattress purchase: Women. “Consumer Connections: It’s All about Her” is the conference theme, and we are backing that with more than a dozen female speakers from inside and outside the industry. Bridget Brennan, a leading expert on marketing to women, is o ...... Read More
Comments (3)HP mattress intro deadline: March 19
It’s market time again. This time it’s the High Point Market that is in the spotlight, and your trusty bedding writer (that’s me) will be covering the mattress highlights in stories, charts, etc., in issues leading up to and distributed at the market next month. Your deadline to get your High Point introductions to me is Friday, March 19. That’s the date by which we nee ...... Read More
Comments (0)ISPA Expo honors Malkiewicz, Van Dyke
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bedding veterans Ray Malkiewicz and Sandy Van Dyke received the top two awards bestowed by the International Sleep Products Assn. here.Malkiewicz, formerly of Wickline Bedding, received the Russell L. Abolt Exceptional Service Award, the industry’s highest honor. “Ray Malkiewicz has been one of the most outstanding contributors to ISPA during his 40-plus years with ...... Read More
Comments (2)ISPA EXPO: Chili runs hot - and cold
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Few companies want to be known as offering a cold line. Chili Technology is an exception to that rule.The privately owned product development company is based in Mooresville, N.C., not far from here, and thus shows at the ISPA Expo on its home turf. It offers temperature-regulation systems, a category that it sees as opening a new frontier in the mattress industry. This is an int ...... Read More
Comments (0)ISPA Expo: Insomniaczzz to take stage
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Today’s the first full day of the International Sleep Products Assn. Expo here, and it features what is sure to be one of the show highlights: The return of the “insomniaczzz,” the mattress industry’s homegrown band.The band made a rousing debut two years ago at the ISPA Expo in Baltimore, and returns to action tonight with an all-new playlist featurin ...... Read More
Comments (2)ISPA Expo: L&P debuts QR codes
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The big news today is QR codes.O.K., I admit I wasn’t familiar with them, but that doesn’t mean much as I’m pretty far down on the tech scale. QR codes will play a role at the Leggett & Platt booth at the ISPA Expo, which I’m covering each day this week in my bedding blog. Leggett & Platt, one of the largest exhibitors at the Expo, is using Qui ...... Read More
Comments (0)ISPA Expo blog to debut
What’s happening at the ISPA Expo in Charlotte, N.C.? I’ll be sharing my insights and observations on the Expo in this space throughout the week. The Expo is a major event in Mattressville every other year, providing a worldwide focus on suppliers to the mattress industry. I’ve been attending the shows since I was first assigned to the mattress beat at Furniture/Today back in ...... Read More
Comments (0)Recession’s winds to claim bedding victims?
High winds swept through my neck of the woods in North Carolina the other day, felling trees and knocking limbs to the ground. Could that be a metaphor for what’s coming in the mattress industry this year? Just as nature’s storms weed out the weak trees and the rickety branches, the mattress industry’s storm (i.e., the recession) also takes its toll. Serta President Bob Sherma ...... Read More
Comments (4)Select Comfort proves critics wrong
It looks like those obituaries for airbed producer and retailer Select Comfort were premature. While the company still faces some challenges and is far removed from its high-flying glory days, it recently delivered some encouraging results. Net sales for the fourth quarter were up 4% on same-store growth of 23%. For the year, net sales were down 11% and the company reported a net profit of $35.6 m ...... Read More
Comments (8)NY Times offers refreshing bedding update
The New York Times was at the recent Las Vegas Market, and served up an interesting take on developments in Mattressville in its recent story. I met the Times reporter, Joyce Wadler, at the bedding roundtable which we hosted at the recent market, an event she mentions in her story. And I gave her a brief overview of the busy Vegas bedding scene. In her article, headlined “More Than a Place ...... Read More
Comments (1)Vegas deserves more than two days
So now it’s back to the office after a busy week in Las Vegas. And it’s time for a brief rant aimed at those bedding players who blew into and out of Vegas last week. Given the dozens and dozens of mattress producers and sleep accessories suppliers who show in Las Vegas, why are some retailers giving the Las Vegas Market only two days of their time? That just doesn’t make any ...... Read More
Comments (6)Bedding insiders give Colts the edge
Fresh from the Las Vegas Market, I offer a couple of Super Bowl insights for your consideration. First: Peyton Manning, perhaps the most important player on the field on Super Bowl Sunday, is ready to play, and the Colts “will give it their best shot.” Those words of wisdom are from Peyton’s father, Archie, who was the featured speaker at the Bedding Kickoff at the World Marke ...... Read More
Comments (1)
| Mattress Pads
Great deals on the most comfortable mattress pads. |