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Phoenix,

First off, I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your valuable knowledge and experience with all us "amateur" mattress buyers.

After reading numerous hours worth of posts on this website, I'm looking to purchase a latex mattress from a factory direct store (looked at mattresses.net and am looking at their number 1 selling latex adjustable ultra plush king size mattress). I'm a 25 year old back/side sleeper, 5'10'', 205 lbs, in the USMC and looking to sleep good after spending a year in Afghanistan sleeping on cots and $20 twin spring mattresses where I can feel every spring in the bed.

Do you know any factory direct businesses near Jacksonville/Wilmington, NC area?

Also, recommendations on specific layers are welcome on my upcoming purchase! Thanks again in advance Phoenix.

Zack

Hi Zack ... and welcome home

Unfortunately there aren't any local manufacturers that are close to you that I'm aware of but if you are willing to travel about 100 miles there is one in the Fayetteville area that may be well worth visiting along with one in the Rocky Mount area. While I realize that they are a ways away ... going to a good manufacturer who knows how to fit you to a mattress, uses high quality materials that will last, and has good value will often save you many hours of frustration and confusion going from store to store and trying to figure out which of the many "stories" you will hear are based on fact and which are just designed to sell you a mattress that only "sounds good" but is missing the "why" or the facts behind the stories. They are ...

www.originalmattress.com/ Fayetteville, NC. They are a regional factory direct manufacturer who make a wide range of mattresses of all types and are highly regarded. They are one of the few factory direct manufacturers that is well enough known to be considered a "brand name" and are consistently rated at or near the top of most brand name surveys (and ahead of the larger national brands).

southernmattressnc.com/index.htm Rocky Mount, NC. Local factory direct manufacturer that sells mostly wholesale but has a showroom at their factory and will also sell directly to consumers. They make mainly high quality innerspring/polyfoam mattresses using better quality foam (including HR polyfoam) than most mainstream manufacturers. They have good quality and value in this style of mattress.

Phoenix

Thanks very much Phoenix. I will check out their website and pay them a visit in the future. I'll keep you posted!

Zack

Hi Zak,

Regarding layering ... I would start off by testing the Latex Supreme at OMF. It is suitable for a back/side sleeper and has a 1.5" comfort layer on both sides and an additional inch of polyfoam in the quilting over a 30-34 ILD support core. I would ask to test it both on the "working foundation" that they normally have it on and also on a rigid foundation which may provide better support for you.

This would provide a good reference point for what will work for you. If it isn't quite right ... then an online purchase that took into account any changes that were necessary from one of our online members would likely be the best direction to go.

I took a quick look in your area to see if there were any retail outlets that sold latex mattresses closer to you that might be worth testing as a reference point (even if they didn't have the value that made them worth buying) but I didn't see any. I'll take a look in more detail tomorrow to see if I can see something that I missed with a quick scan.

Phoenix

Hi Zak,

I took a little closer look at some of the retail outlets near you in the Wilmington, NC / Jacksonville, NC area and here is what I found based on the information that is available online and with a few phone calls. While these may not offer the same value as either a local or online factory direct outlet, they do give you a chance to do some testing to get a sense of the general layering options that you need and prefer. When you are looking at alternative brands or smaller national or regional manufacturers ... it becomes especially important to deal with a retail outlet that doesn't hesitate to let you know what is in every layer of a mattress you are considering (assuming their manufacturer even gives them this information). Transparency and openness about the materials in a mattress is one of the most important ways to know that you are dealing with a knowledgeable person and where the "odds" are better that they offer better value (they encourage comparative shopping based on materials rather than making it difficult).

If you are "testing" latex mattresses, either all latex or a latex hybrid with latex in the comfort layers and then polyfoam or an innerspring as the support system ... it is especially important to check that there is no polyfoam (or at least very little) over the latex because otherwise when you lay on what a salesperson may call a "latex" mattress ... you would really be lying on and feeling more of the polyfoam rather than the latex.

Many of these outlets will also carry other brands which I would mostly tend to avoid and I've included comments about the brands that I would focus on (along with the spec sheets).

www.capefearbedding.com/ Wilmington. They carry Golden Mattress Company mattresses which also makes a wide range of mattresses including some latex models which have better value than most larger brands.

www.bedsplusstores.com/ Wilmington. Carry MiForma made by Anatomic Global and Restonic mattresses. I talked with someone there who was the only person in the store but when I started asking if they shared the layer by layer specs of their mattress he became very hesitant and said "he had to go". While both MiForma and Restonic can be better value options (in the case of Restonic depending on which licensee makes their mattresses for that area because they all make them differently) the store itself certainly didn't inspire confidence as to their willingness to tell people about what was in their mattresses or help with meaningful comparison shopping ... possibly because they are more focused on selling major brands which don't make this information readily available and usually can't compete for value based on their actual ingredients. NOTE ADDED LATER: Their website now appears to be down and they may now be out of business.

branchs.net/home.html New Bern, NC. They carry mattresses from Imperial bedding which makes a wide range of "traditional" mattresses which are 2 sided polyfoam over innersprings. While they don't make any latex mattresses, I'm including them here for reference because they do use higher quality polyfoam than the major manufacturers and they even make their own innersprings so they are much better quality and value than other mattresses of the same type and are well worth considering.

themattresscapital.com/ Wilmington, Southport. They carry Solstice Sleep Products and Bed Boss. In a conversation I had with one of their outlets ... I was impressed at his willingness to look up the specs of the mattresses they carried and he certainly agreed that knowing what was in your mattress should be an important part of any purchase. I liked his "attitude".

www.wilmingtonfurnitureandmattressco.com/home Wilmington. Also carries Solstice Sleep Products and Bed Boss.

www.agoodnightsleepstore.com/ Wilmington. Pure Talaly Bliss.

fredsbedsonline.com/ Wilmington. Also carry Pure Talalay Bliss.

www.shopcustomhome.com/ Wilmington. Park Place

aamattressandfurniture.com/ Wilmington. Jamison, Restonic, Pure Talalay Bliss.

hampstead-furniture.com/ Hampstead. Golden, Therapedic.

Hopefully that will help give you a few options that are more local for mattress testing and comparisons.

Phoenix