Hi Rhoden,
You have good reason to be concerned with the quality and value of a major brand.
Unfortunately there are not a lot of great options in your immediate area but there are a couple of factory direct manufacturers that are a bit of a drive away in the Columbia area that I would consider including in your research and may be worth the time it takes to visit them …
http://www.bestmattress.net/mattress-products.cfm West Columbia, SC. Factory direct manufacturer in West Columbia. they make latex, memory foam, and innerspring mattresses.
http://www.southernbeddingofcolumbia.com/ Columbia, SC. Factory direct manufacturer. Also make a range of different mattresses including innersprings and latex.
http://www.restmaster.com/ Local manufacturer that used to be wholesale only and makes mainly traditional mattresses (layers of polyfoam over innersprings) including one and two sided mattresses and a memory foam mattress as well. They now have their own factory direct showroom in North Augusta, SC.
Some of the local “possibilities” in the Augusta, GA / Aiken, SC area (out of about 40 stores that I looked at in the area) and the manufacturers that they carry that may be worth considering (subject to whether they can provide you with the specifics of the materials inside their mattress) include …
http://mattressman1.com/ Augusta, Martinez, GA. Aiken, SC. Southerland. They used to carry Pure Latex Bliss but they are no longer listed in their site so you may wish to call and see if they still carry them.
http://www.davisapplianceaugusta.com/our-brands/ Augusta, GA. Symbol
http://www.ashleysonmain.com/ New Ellenton, SC. Park Place
http://www.yelp.com/biz/southern-furniture-mattress-and-appliances-thomson Thomson, GA. Posturecraft, Therapedic
http://www.capitalfurniture.com/ Waynesboro, GA. Jamison
I would call these first to confirm they are transparent about the materials in their mattresses and to make sure they carry the type of mattresses you are interested in testing before paying them a visit.
Other than this … the mattress shopping tutorial includes this link to a list of some of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of (and several other links to lists of some of the better online options I’m aware of as well other than just memory foam mattresses).
Hope this helps
Phoenix