Hi KerryJ,
There isn’t a forum list near Bemidji, MN so I spent some time this morning looking around the area and making a few phone calls to see what was available but unfortunately there was nothing that I saw in about a 50 mile radius that I would consider. Almost all the stores in your area carry major brands or other lower quality mattresses.
There is a forum list of some of the better possibilities in Grand Rapids, MN in post #2 here but there aren’t many good options there either.
I also took a look around the Grand Forks and Fargo areas and these are the better options or possibilities that would be worth further research IMO along with the brands they carry that I would consider …
GRAND FORKS, ND
Denver Mattress® - The Easiest Way to Get the Right Mattress Regional Manufacturer with a store in Grand Forks that makes a range of innerspring, memory foam, and “mostly latex” mattresses. I would stick to the mattresses that they manufacture themselves which are better quality/value and avoid the mainstream brands they also carry.
http://www.conlins.com/ Grand Forks, ND. Sleep Harmony (memory foam but being discontinued so they are on clearance)
http://www.gfmattressfactory.com/ Grand Forks, ND. Restonic, Spring Air. They are both made in the local licensee factory in Grand Forks
FARGO, ND
http://www.comfortking.net/ or http://comfortkingmattress.com/ Factory direct manufacturer in Fargo, ND and Sioux Falls, SD. They have a very interesting site that is impressive because they have a video showing the manufacturing of every mattress they make. They make a range of innerspring mattresses that use various combinations of comfort layers using high density polyfoam, latex, memory foam, Somnigel buckling column gel, and microcoils on top of several different types of innersprings and would be well worth including in your research.
http://bedsbydesign.net/ Fargo, ND. Sioux Falls, SD. They are another local manufacturer that make a range of mattresses that use various combinations of innersprings (including pocket coils), good quality polyfoam (including high performance polyfoam), and memory foam. They also have some “unusual” names for their materials and imply that they are using “synthetic latex” in their mattresses when the material is actually a high performance polyfoam which is a good quality and durable material and has many of the properties of latex but it’s not latex at all (it doesn’t contain any natural or synthetic rubber) and is less costly then either synthetic, blended, or natural latex. When I talked with the owner he insisted that it was “OK” to call or imply that the polyfoam they use is “synthetic latex” and used an analogy of synthetic oil vs regular oil and spent a great deal of time trying to justify their descriptions (or implications) but of course I completely disagree and I consider their descriptions to be misleading and factually incorrect. You can verify that there is no latex in their mattresses by checking the law tags (which don’t say latex). They do make some good quality and durable mattresses but I would make some careful value comparisons with other mattresses that use similar materials rather than comparing them to other mattresses that really do use latex.
http://www.zimmermansfurniture.com/homepage Fargo, Bismark, Jamestown, Minot, ND. Englander (including nature’s finest line)
http://furnitureforlessfargo.com/contact Moorehead, West Fargo, MN. They said they find out the specifications and foam densities for their Spring Air, Restonic, and King Koil mattresses to the degree that their licensee makes available so if their licensee actually will provide them with all the information you need about their mattresses then you would be able to make an informed choice and meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
http://www.slimshomefurnishings.com/ContactUs.aspx Breckenridge, MN. They carry Restonic and Symbol memory foam and hybrid mattresses but no latex or latex hybrids.
These are the better options or possibilities I know of or could find in the general area. Although most would involve a drive, I believe it would be worth it compared to what is available to you locally. Outside of these it may also be worth considering an online purchase.
Phoenix