Why better sleep is the ultimate home upgrade

0:00Home is where connections are made. Memories are formed and ideas are born, and no one knows home better than NFM. Thanks for tuning in to I Am Home, the podcast that goes deeper than trends and dives into what it means to make your house a home. Home. Hello and welcome to I Am Home, the Home My Best Light Podcast. I'm Tyler Wisecub, joined by my co-host who believes the foundation of every dream bedroom is a mattress you love. That's Becca. Hi, Tyler. Hi, Becca. And our other co-host, he knows the best ideas happen after a good night's rest. It's Hillary Walden-F. Hey. Hi, Hillary. Today we're talking about something that affects every single one of us yet. Many of us don't think too much about it until it's time for replacement. We're going to be talking mattresses and to help us unpack it, we've got Anthony Clap, vice president of sales and marketing and sleep tronics. Hi. Wow.

1:02Overjoyed to be here. The vice president. Yes. Yes. Fantastic. And they think we're being here. And we also have Jerry Gross joining us as well. You've been with Sleep Tronics for how many years now? I've been there. I've been with Sleep Tronics officially since 2020. Yeah. And before that, I've been calling on Nebraska Furniture Mark for the past close to 20 years. Yeah. So we've got two huge pros here helping to teach us all about mattresses. I'm so excited to get into it. But before we do, let me tell you why we're even doing this podcast. And that's because NFM is more than just your everything home store. We're in the business of improving my styles because your home life should be your best life. And you can learn more at fm.com. And I'd love to start Anthony. You got 30 years of history in the mattress industry. And we're going to get into it. But one of the things that came up in my research is that you're a part of some of Sleep Tronics more wild designs. Yeah. I saw I saw some leopard. I saw some zebra. I saw some camo. Some kind of

2:09curious. Like what would you think that like gosh, this is what the mattress needs. And then like I'm curious, like what was the response like? How did that? What's interesting about those designs is first of all, they're not available at Nebraska Furniture Mark. That's product that we experimented with years and years ago. The mattress industry is both a health industry and a fashion industry. Yeah. So we work with textile designers all over the world to bring beautiful fashion to mattresses. And sometimes that goes in kind of a crazy way. Yeah. It's certainly if you visit the mattress department at NFM, you'll find a whole variety of different looks. Right. And believe it or not, those textiles also are part of the performance textiles. So crazy. It can help keep you cool. Some of them will be softer. Some of them will be firmer. And that even helps control the feel of the bed right to that surface.

3:10Right. So it's it's a complicated process. But fun. It's probably the funnest part of my job. Yeah. Absolutely. I love it. Was there a special trigger for the the leopard and the zebra stuff? Like I'm just curious about like the mindset that got to the to those design choices? Well, the first mindset is we pay a lot of attention to women's fashion. Sure. Because women are the principal purchasers of mattresses. Often the purchases made in as a couple. Yeah. But if the lady doesn't like the way it looks, it doesn't get sold. So at the time that we developed those, there were an awful lot like a huge amount of like a dozen or six maybe. Oh yeah. Yeah. Women's fashion. Yeah. So we wanted to tap into that and give the customer something they want. It's so fun. Yeah. We want people to be excited about this rectangle. Yeah. Because it's a lot more than a rectangle. Very consistent with NFM's vision for improving people's lives. It's the number one way you can improve your life

4:15to sleep well. Thousand percent. That sleep is so important. Well, like we said, 30 years in the mattress industry. But before that, Anthony, I was curious like you you're working in journalism in Oklahoma. So like, can you take us back to the beginning? Like how did you end up in Texas in the mattress? Well, it's an interesting story. I never thought this is what I would be doing in this life. Yeah. You know, when you're growing up, I don't know how many people grow up and say, I want to sell mattresses. But there's a journey. And it was a very, very, very kind of a rough point at one point where I was in journalism, running a couple of newspapers, trying to run an advertising agency and realize, you have got to go and get a job. This company that you're running isn't being successful. This was not being successful. And so rather than have the lights that turned off at your house, you needed to go and make some money. And the very first place I applied was at a

5:20mattress manufacturing company in Oklahoma City, 33 years ago. Oh, wow. And then after that, 30 years ago, I came to work for sleep tronic. And that's back from the old days when there were classified ads in the industry newspaper and the industry magazine came once a week and there'd be these little ads at the back. And you had me, this is, I wouldn't say pre-internet, but it was early, early days. So I responded to a classified ad in the back of furniture today. And I remember, remember going, gosh, this is for me, it was going to be a big move. Yes, that is. For Oklahoma City. Yeah. And sure enough, it was the best move of my life. Wow. Yeah, 30 years later. That's fantastic. When you are, I'm curious for both of you, when you're at a party and people hear that you work in mattresses, like, what's the first question that they typically ask?

6:23And be interesting to see if yours is the same as Jerry. Do you want to start? Jerry. My first, if I'm at a party, I'm super proud of saying what I do and what we're able to do for people. It's not the most glamorous thing in the world because a lot of times folks won't know they need a mattress until they'll see, they'll start feeling a little bit of back pain or saying, hey, I'm not too, I'm not, maybe it's time to get that mattress and it's a quick, that buying decision for the consumer. But it's a unique product that I'm proud to say it. I don't know what, I don't have a token response on what, what, you know, get like a typical, they don't go straight to like, can you help me with a discount? Oh, everybody. So what's interesting about it is the discount usually isn't the first question. The first

7:24question at least for me is what is the best mattress? Sure. People will know that I work in the industry, but they often think that I'm like an RSA or a salesperson at the store. They don't understand the business to business part of what we do. Right. Much less that we make them and the many days make over a thousand a day. Yeah. In our factory, they think that I'm selling mattresses. Sure. And so the first question is like, is there a best? And that's they want to be based on everybody's different personality than what you meet. There's no best mattress. There really isn't. And what's amazing about the best mattress is because they're usually in need. They're less concerned about the price or a discount. Yeah. They want something that will fix whatever they're probably. Yeah. And whether it says Jerry alluded to some issue in your back or tossing and turning or you're sleeping hot. And you're like, oh my gosh, I think I could spend another night on this hot mattress that I'm on. Yeah. They want to find a solution. And I will say this.

8:28The best solutions are at Nebraska furniture, the amount and breadth and different types of product in the store here is second to none anywhere in the country. Yeah. You all have everything. Well, I appreciate that. I mean, we've liked to think so. Right. So I'm curious about sleeptronic story. It's a family-owned operated business since 1955. I think it was. Yeah. What you think about the history of what happened here and starting from literally nothing, you know, that to building a very large and successful company, our owners come from Africa actually from Tanzania, Africa. And they owned a general goods store. The family did there. And in the back of the store, they made mattresses. So they were making mattresses and selling sundries and selling other selling probably like wheat and flour and things that people needed just for their general lives. And something that you pretty much have to

9:31have is a mattress. Wow. Yeah. They were making them. We have photos of it. It's crazy. Fascinating. Sure. And that's back at times when there were a lot of like cotton and horsehair and really unusual items in the mattress that you would think of today. And this thing they're coming back. It's all clearly. Yeah. The ultra luxury category of mattresses feature all of those exotic components today. We're using them in our factory. Interesting. Yeah. And silk and wool and it's really fascinating. But so back to the story, they were in Africa. And it's kind of unbelievable that people lived through this, but there was a purge in Africa of aadiamine wanted Africa to be for Africans. And this group of folks had moved to Africa from the India Pakistan area as a group had moved and settled in Africa. And then

10:33they were expunged from the country. Wow. And Canada took them in. And so they took their skill set, one of which was making mattresses. And three brothers went into business, manufacturing mattresses in Canada. And then the oldest brother said, I can't take this cold comedian. We're from Africa. He was born in Africa on the Serengeti where it's not cold. I'm sure. I'm getting out of here. I can't take care of it anymore. So he moved to Texas and then opened a factory in Texas. And long story short, the father and mother that hired me and that I started working for have since sold the business to their three sons. Wow. And so the three sons are running it and growing it today. That's the sleeptronic story. So it's a immigrant success story. Pull yourself up from nothing. Yeah. Fantastic story. I love that. Jerry, one thing that I was

11:35looking at speaking of just like fantastic sleeptronic stories is some of the work that they do kind of giving back. And I saw this like this veterans cause. I know that you're a veteran. Yes. And there is a story of like sleeptronic donating 80 handcrafted mattress sets to a veterans training camp in Arkansas. What did that gesture mean to you personally? Amazing. It felt so good to me. We recently upgraded a bunch of fleets, the fleet of our trucks, just gorgeous brand new trucks. And so they actually made a video that I got to see of the whole process on giving back to veterans. Anything I can do to help out the veterans wearing the red, white, and blue tag right now. And there's a but over the top felt great about giving back. And it was such a good cause. And it's going to help out a lot of people.

12:36And we want to thank our friends at the organization called for all things mattress, called the fan. And they're the ones who helped connect and put all of this together. So it was not just our effort, but more of a community type effort. And that group of the fam, they are thought leaders in our mattress industry and do a lot of programming around the idea of improving both the retail side of the business and the manufacturing side. So I'll actually be speaking a third upcoming conference later this fall. It's a really unique organization. So we think want to shout out to them. Think them for help and put it all together with us. It's a great story and good cause. And it sounds like it partners too. Yeah, that's fantastic. All right. I'd love to jump into learning a little bit more about the technology that's been that's like 10, 15 years if you haven't like bought a mattress. Like they're just catalogs now. I feel like there's so many things that they can put in them.

13:39So let's level set for listeners first. Like what are maybe some of the initial warning signs that a mattress that you have today may be no longer supporting a good sleep even before. Like it's, it's discipline. Or now. Well, let's start with the mattress that I sleep on today is not a mattress that I could possibly have slept on eight or 10 years ago because my body has changed. Everyone in this room, our bodies have changed over years. So there may actually be nothing wrong with the mattress in your house, but your body has changed and now needs something different to sleep on. So that's, well, that's one thing to consider. It's not often touched on in our industry. People sort of focus on mattress failure. Well, a lot of mattresses don't fail. They can be very good for a long time, but we just need something different. Maybe we got a little bigger. Maybe we worked out. Our muscles are in a different place. Whatever that case would also say that you're aging to aging. Absolutely. Arthritis. All those, those older, older syndromes that come on you, you

14:46have to kind of change your life. And so number one is if you don't sleep through the night, there's something wrong somewhere. And it is often the mattress. Certainly if you wake up in pain, if you're waking up in pain, it could be to cramp shoulder. Maybe today you're sleeping on your side and you used to sleep on your back. And a mattress for a side sleeper, it's not the right mattress for a back sleeper. So all of those things come in, but it really is if you can't sleep through the night, or if you wake up hot. And both men and women go through menopause, women go through it a little more than men, but changing hormones over time. If you're waking up hot, there are mattresses that can help keep you cool. So there's a whole variety of reasons that someone would change the mattress. Yeah, good morning, son. It's for sure. If someone hadn't purchased speaking of like a mattress in 10 or 15 years, like what would shock them both about today's options? The breadth of options.

15:52There are so many more options today than there used to be. There are so many new companies manufacturing mattresses or designing and marketing mattresses, maybe not actually making them with a design and market them. Then there were certainly even 15 years ago. And brands that are at the forefront of consumers' minds today didn't even exist 15 years ago. So the number one benefit of a store like Nebraska furniture mart is being able to come in and see it and feel it and touch it. And then learn about it from the retail sales associates. Jerry's number one responsibility to our company is to keep the RSAs informed. Keep that person who's going to work with the consumer informed to help them help the consumer find the right mattress. So that's what would be shocking is it's very much a big broad open choice of product. Yeah, absolutely.

16:54There was a time when certain sleep technologies felt like they belonged to maybe just a handful of premium brands. Today I feel like that's a cooling material. We talked about there's things like advanced phones and all sorts of other technology across the industry. How would shoppers think differently about mattress brands? Like you said, the breadth of options and like how many of those options are available at certain price points and across like all the different brands that carry them today. Well, if you think about the automobile industry, which you mentioned earlier, our industry follows very closely along with the way automobile product is developed. And a lot of folks are closer to the automobile world than they are to the mattress world. So I can remember, and this is certainly showing my age when cars didn't come with electric windows. That was an option. And you believe it. And you believe it.

17:59Or air conditioning. How about air conditioning? Cars came without air conditioning. It was an option. And so generally in any product life cycle, the longer a product is in front of the consumer, the better it's going to get. And those former options become standards. And then you have to create something new and hopefully better and better service to the consumer to continue to attract them to your product. So we spend a lot of time looking at ways to make that mattress improved over what we did last year. That's how you get customers excited to come in and get something different. And if you're hoping they're alive at the same time, wow, that's amazing. Cooling, I would say is the perfect one thing. We didn't have the majority. Do you remember talking about cooling 20 years ago? You know, not 20 years ago. There was no such a thing. There wasn't much in cooling. Now there's cooling in the phones, the conforming layers. There's actually cooling

19:04in the cover itself on a lot of mattress with cooling yarns. No chemicals involved. I would say about 10 years ago, we were all amazed that we can use what was called a face. It was the spray material that we sprayed on. All vendors did that. And it kind of cooled off the top of the mattress. And it was great. But that wore off. And now we've figured out even since that last 10 years, how to use the cooling yarns. I don't wear out over time. So for the life of the product with your birchhar collection and other mattress companies, you have some cooling features that start even in the cover itself. And that's what's kind of a weird thing to think about when we're talking to customers and say, believe it or not, this is starting to help you even just in the cover nowadays. So technology does change. It changes. It becomes brighter, becomes more available. And so much like any other industry, we're looking for what's next. I'm not sure what that is.

20:08Industry doesn't know just yet what's next. But it seems like every five to seven years, something comes. It's a disruptor. And it does become a disruptor. Some company will invent or create. And then you can take a look at different products on the floor here and see those items that were unknown five years, some 10 years ago. And they're all here. It's all here. Well, I think that should have left question. I know that one of our pre-meetings where we were talking about getting together, you were talking about some of the stuff that you were working on. I don't know how much we want to divulge the secrets to be coming. But what can you share about what's next? What's getting you excited? Well, this morning we had a very exciting meeting with the buying staff here at Nebraska furniture market. And we focused that meeting all around entry level product. Because certainly we think of Cadillacs. And we think of the most luxurious

21:08best mattresses and wish that everyone could have that. But not everyone can have that. Some folks need either for their children or due to budgetary reasons or perhaps they're only in a community for a short amount of time. And so they're looking more toward the value into the spectrum. And what we presented today is all significantly better for the consumer in terms of cushioning, in terms of support than what is currently on the floor. So working in concert with this amazing retailer, all people are going to benefit. That better product will be accessible at a better price point. That's exciting. Yeah. One of those things that might not sound as fancy as a new cooling yard, something like that that is legitimately better for people's pocketbooks and for more people to be able to achieve. That's a key one to focus on for sure.

22:09Do you, one of the things that we talked about when we were just getting together was like mattress and this and things that like folks fixate on that may or may not be, I'll just say like a pet peeve or one of yours where you're like can't they just like understand if I could, if I could just get them to understand one thing. I'm curious if either of you have a myth that you would love to bust for us. I'll bust a bit. Yeah. I want to hear it. Go for it. Extra firm does not mean better. And a lot of consumers, my parents included, believe the harder the mattress is, the better it's going to be for them. And then they get that hard mattress in before long. You've got a memory foam topper on it. Yeah. We can think of it as a thought or anyway. So hard does not equal more support. Certainly does not equal more comfort. Yeah. And it definitely does not mean that it's a better. Yeah. We have a we have a bit downstairs

23:12that's is just a tremendous seller. It's called the Q. It's in the Berkshire collection. But we have we have three in a row for people to try out. And one of them is extra firm. And then a collection and a pillow top. So the neat thing about that is is the extra firm is exactly the same coiling unit, the same support, same price, same everything as the pillow top. And one just might feel a little bit more cushioned to the top. But every bit is firm as the firm version. Some people love the extra firms. But you you can don't have to have that as well. They hear firm and they think it's just going to like blast. Well, that better, but that's not just true. It's correct because you're still using that same technology just like correct. We're just doing the comfort levels is what you know, those comfort layers, you can do so much in the comfort layers with the different types of foams that you're talking about, whether it's a memory foam

24:16or a latex foam, you can put all different types of layers of pads and materials to adjust that feel so that the consumer gets what they want. But it's ultimately still supportive. Well, I said that the time would go and it has to be where we're at the end of our time. I wonder if we can talk about like what has been like the most rewarding or major field of most creative? Like when you're in this business talking about product innovation and talking about like the impact on people's lives. Like what stands out? Oh, I can tell you know, I literally during your Berkshire event in May, first week of May, last day of the sale, about 7.25 pm. We're all we're all super tired down there. And this lady was walking past and she was using your cart when your carts to help her out. And she was struggling.

25:19And so I know it was around a help. She tried a mattress. I figured out that she needed a lot of help in her mattress and ended up loving hours, which was great. Even though she loved the war in mattress, our top of the line, she just loved it. I showed her a couple more just to make sure. I said, I am going to help you for sure just to make sure she knew what she was getting. And by the time we were done, ended up she got an adjustable bed that was going to really help her out as well. But I ended up calling home. I was like, I was so inspired. I was like, we really, really helped out this lady who was hurting. And we get to do that in our business all the time, which is kind of like why we love it. But we really get to help out customers every single day. So that and that was just recent. And it was something that I already remember. I was emotional about it. I told my wife it was amazing. So it's a good feeling. Yeah, to bring somebody some relief. Oh my gosh. So it's such a good feeling. So that's where we're there for.

26:25I would say from time to time, the option, the company's ability to give back can really pull your heart strings. We're getting ready to in Houston to participate in a back to school drive for underprivileged children. And they'll be just to donated 25 twin mattresses for little kids that are sleeping on the floor. They are sleeping on that. That's great. And so we're going to get them off the floor. Yeah, that's great. So that will have huge impact in their life. No change your life. Being able to sleep versus laying on a floor to help them learn better. Yeah. And that's that's with a with a retailer that's active in that area. So it's again a community effort is not just us doing it. It's a bonafit. I'm allowed to say their name probably. Yeah, yeah. It's exclusive furniture in Houston. Okay. Amazing retailer. Yeah. And so we love partnering with folks to do that from time to time as we can. Yeah, that's great.

27:29This is so this has been so educational and inspirational. I appreciate both of your times. I want to thank Becca and Hillary are producers and it's got a writer Megan on this episode. And to all you listening, remember for you listeners that until next time, here's to making your home life your best life one story at a time. Thanks for joining us today for I am home with Tyler Wiseka, Hillary Walta Math and Becca Sudbeck. No one knows home quite like NFM. So if you'd like more information on home design at NFM, please check out NFM.com and leave us a review on the podcast platform of your choice.