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..
Where should ISPA look for leadership?
“This,” the bedding veteran said to me the other day, “will make a good blog: Should the International Sleep Products Assn. look for an association leader for its next president, or should it hire someone from within the bedding industry?” That is an interesting question, and it is one that is sparking discussion throughout the industry these days. I heard ...... Read More
Comments (0)Is big wave of pent-up demand coming?
The discussion has been going on for months now, and it has grown stronger as the woes of the mattress industry have grown worse. How much pent-up demand will be unleashed next year in what the International Sleep Products Assn. sees as a solid growth year? Some respected industry analysts see a veritable wave of pent-up demand flooding our industry, sending surges of mattress-starved consumers in ...... Read More
Comments (10)Death claims vibrant Sealy VP
In one of those tragic, senseless accidents, an outdoors-loving Sealy vice president was struck and killed this past weekend while he was riding his bicycle in Guilford County, N.C. David Sherman, 55, died instantly when an SUV struck him late Saturday afternoon. Witnesses saw a silver Dodge Durango leave the scene of the accident. I didn’t know Sherman, but those who did described him as a ...... Read More
Comments (5)Eitel answers critics, defends performance
Former Simmons CEO Charlie Eitel is making a strong defense of the company’s performance under his watch, saying that sales increased substantially and that he built lasting relationships with retailers – and “sold a lot of beds” - by entertaining them on his boats and in his homes. I asked Eitel the other day if he wanted to respond to recent stories in The New York Ti ...... Read More
Comments (26)Bedding forecast sees big rebound in 2010
They say the media doesn’t report good news, but I come before you today with three nice-sounding numbers: 7, 12 and 15. Those are three estimates of how much growth the mattress category will record next year. Yes, you heard us correctly. We said “growth.” That’s not a word that has been heard in Mattressville in recent years. I found those nice-sounding ...... Read More
Comments (9)ComforPedic Retail Tour: Good news at Cardis
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Good news from the retail trenches: The worst is over.The Cardi brothers - Nick, Ron and Pete - offered that assessment to me while we were all seated (comfortably) in the spacious, spa-like bedding department of their flagship store just outside this historic city. The brothers are the well-known faces of Cardis Furniture, the first stop on this day of the ComforPedic Retail To ...... Read More
Comments (0)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 ...... Read More
Comments (9)ComforPedic Retail Road Tour a good idea
HARTFORD, Conn. - Greetings from the capital of the Nutmeg State, a very special place for me to embark on a journey of retail discovery. More on that in a moment.This is my jumping off point for a rendezvous with the ComforPedic Loft Showroom on Wheels, an 18-wheeler that I last saw parked in a dusty Las Vegas parking lot across the street from the World Market Center. That’s where the tou ...... Read More
Comments (2)NY Times has compelling tale of greed
The New York Times has published what will probably stand as the definitive account of private equity’s greed in the mattress business. It is the story of the private equity owners who bought and sold Simmons over the years for “ever-rising prices” while burdening the company with growing debt. The coverage begins in the lead position on Page 1: “Buyout Firms Profited A ...... Read More
Comments (27)Low innerspring scores raise no ruckus
It’s the case of the lion that didn’t roar. I thought the provocative findings of our recent “Rating Sleep Surfaces” study would bring forth howls of protest from the innerspring side of the business, which did not fare well in the study. But I’ve heard very little response to the survey findings. Maybe everyone took some time off after the recent Las Vegas Marke ...... Read More
Comments (16)Simmons sighs in relief as deal announced
So now we know that those Serta-Simmons rumors were true, sort of. The purchase agreement announced today between Simmons and an investor group led by Ares Management and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the owners of Serta, would dramatically change the face of the bedding landscape, sort of. It will create a new No. 1 in the mattress world: Simmons plus Serta is almost $2 billion in sa ...... Read More
Comments (13)Are suppliers too aggressive in Vegas?
Here’s a novel proposal: Suppliers should only visit mattress showrooms in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday, after retailers have visited the spaces on Monday and Tuesday. A couple of my friends on the manufacturing side of the business think that’s a great idea, especially after they were inundated with suppliers at the recent Las Vegas Market. The main purpose of market, you wil ...... Read More
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