here is my zip. i live in a small town so you may not have much luck. i need a mattress bad, i wake up stiff with neck and back pain. i slept on a Beautyrest at a Sheraton last weekend and absolutely loved that thing. can only order that online through sheraton/home though and the wife doesn’t really want to go that route. state: West Virginia zip: 24901 thanks!
Hi Sdot,
The first place to start your research is post #1 here which has the basic information, steps, and guidelines that will help you make the best choices … and hopefully help you avoid the worst ones such as the major brands such as Simmons that don’t disclose the quality of the materials in their mattresses or use lower quality materials that will soften and break down much too quickly.
You are certainly right that there is little in the way of good quality/value choices in your area. I did a fairly extensive search around you and there are a few “possibilities” but you will need to do some further phone research along the lines of this article to make sure they are somewhat knowledgeable about mattress materials and most importantly will disclose the quality of the materials in their mattresses (or call the factory to find out if they don’t have the information available). without this information it’s not possible to make an informed buying decision or make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
The “possibilities” along with the brands I would consider at each one on a “mattress by mattress” basis (and only if they can provide you with the quality specs) include …
http://www.bigsandysuperstore.com/ Lewisburg, WV. Paramount (HD series)
http://homefurniture1974.com/products Beckley, WV. White Dove
There are a few better choices if you are willing to drive some distance …
Charleston, WV area:
http://www.imperialbedding.com/ Huntington, WV. Factory direct manufacturer that makes their own springs and good quality products.
Mattresses : Pugh Furniture Warehouse Showrooms Charleston, WV. Pure Latex Bliss, Imperial
http://www.bigsandysuperstore.com/ Charleston, WV. Paramount (HD)
A few other lists that would also be a longer drive …
Roanoke/Christiansburg area: Post #5 here
Charlottesville/Lynchburg area: Post #3 here
Outside of the few local options … most of your better choices or possibilities would involve a longer drive so depending on how far you are willing to travel it may also be worth considering an online purchase.
Phoenix
:woohoo: awesome pheonix thanks for helping me out! i know you’re busy so it is much appreciated. the Big Sandy store is really close. i’m gonna go in tomorow and lay down on the Paramount athena HD. so you prefer HD over the “back performance”? I’m so glad you made a recommendation on what brand, all these stats are confusing to me…so just to confirm if you were to walk into Big Sandy to buy a mattress you would choose the Paramount brand? if so this will be in my home soon! thanks again
Hi Sdot,
I hadn’t done any specific research in your area so I though it would be a good idea to add the “list” to the other lists in the forum for others who are in your area 
Don’t forget that the brands I mentioned are only “possibilities” that have higher odds of being able to find out the specifics and quality of the materials in the mattresses and I would exclude the major brands that I left out that they also carry because they have very low odds of being able to find out what is in them. The HD series tends to use higher quality components and higher density foams than the back performance series but the only way to assess any specific mattress is to know the specific details of all the layers and components in the mattress and the willingness and ability of a retailer or manufacturer to provide them to you and “educate” you about what they mean is an important part of finding a good quality and durable mattress.
I would never buy any mattress based on brand … only based on the quality of the materials in the mattress and on the knowledge and ability of a retailer to provide them to me and help their customers understand what they mean so they can make more meaningful comparisons and informed buying decisions.
It’s much like buying a computer. Either you already know or are willing to learn lots of information about what each of the components do and how they work together for your specific needs and preferences or you need to find an “expert” who already knows what you would otherwise need to learn and who can explain all the parts of a computer purchase that are most important to you so you can make an informed decision and have a reasonable expectation that it will do what you want it to do for a reasonable period of time. I certainly wouldn’t buy a computer based on information from someone who was more interested in selling me whatever they could convince me to buy or who didn’t know the specific details of why one computer was better than another or which one had the better components if I asked. I would buy a computer from someone that was clearly knowledgeable about the components of a computer and could answer my questions about exactly how a specific computer would benefit me and why one component was better for me than another. If someone told me that they didn’t know the details of a CPU or GPU or the memory or the hard drive in a computer and couldn’t tell me the specifics of which one was better and why to justify whether a higher price was worth it to me I wouldn’t buy a computer from them.
It’s the same with a mattress … I would want to know that they knew a lot more than I did about the materials in a mattress and how to compare them and why one material or mattress was better than another in “factual” terms rather than in terms of “marketing stories”.
Phoenix