Mattress retailer Sleep Outfitters announced Wednesday it will open its first two stores in the Chattanooga market on Friday.
The company also said it plans to give away a $5,000 “dream bed” in celebration of the stores’ opening.
The Lexington, Ky.-based bedding retailer will open stores at 7308 Shallowford Road at Hamilton Place and at 5307 Highway 153 in Hixson, across from Northgate Mall.
The Chattanooga store openings bring to 20 the total number of Sleep Outfitters showrooms in Tennessee. The company also has locations in the Knoxville, Tri-Cities, and Nashville markets.
Sleep Outfitters plans to continue expanding its footprint in eastern Tennessee with several locations either under construction or under consideration, according to a company spokesperson.
Sleep Outfitters features Sealy, Stearns & Foster and Tempur-Pedic mattresses. The company has the distinction of being the number one Tempur-Pedic retailer in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama, four of the six states where it does business.
“We’re working on becoming the number one Tempur-Pedic retailer in all our states,” said Sleep Outfitters founder Kim Knopf.
Ms. Knopf says she always intended that Sleep Outfitters be a different kind of mattress retailer, one that puts the customer’s need for a good night’s sleep first.
"Sleep Outfitters’ guiding principal is that sleep, just as much as diet and exercise, is essential for a healthy, productive life; hence our slogan, ‘outfitting you for a healthy life,’” said Ms. Knopf. “So, it’s important that customers select the right mattress for the way they sleep.”
To that end, Sleep Outfitters has developed a free, exclusive sleep assessment to determine customers’ sleeping positions and what, if any, sleeping problems they may have, such as pain or a restless or snoring partner. With information from the sleep assessment, Sleep Outfitters’ associates can match customers with the bed that best suits the customers’ needs, said officials.
"Our sleep assessment not only helps match our customer with the right mattress, it takes a lot of anxiety out of mattress shopping,” said Ms. Knopf. “Imagine you’re shopping for a mattress for the first time in eight to 10 years, and you’re confronted with 40 to 50 white rectangles, and the salesperson is talking about things like memory foam and pocketed coils. It can be a stressful experience. Our sleep assessment alleviates that pain by matching you with the best mattress for the way you sleep. We want the Sleep Outfitters experience to be like no other.”