Mattress Manufacturer in South Central Minnesota

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Dear Phoenix,

Thank you for the informative site and inciteful and lively discussion. My husband and I are trying to do our due diligence in selecting a new mattress. After reading the many articles on this website, we have both realized there is more to the issue than we originally thought. We made it to this website while trying to see what the general opinion of iComfort mattresses was. We found we are less comfortable with the the information at hand than we had hoped. It has led me to believe we should consider more independent manufacturers out there for both value and quality. I was wondering if you could help us with this in our area. We are from Mankato, MN which is south central Minnesota. We are about 70 miles south of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I originally thought I wanted a Memory foam mattress, however I’m wondering if we would be better with a pocket coil interspring mattress or a latex mattress. We would like to keep our price at 2000 or less, and based on your budget article I feel we should be able to find what we want in this price.

My husband is 6’1 and 190 pounds. He is a stomach and side sleeper.
I am 5’6 and 180 pounds. I prefer to sleep on my side but change positions often. I have issues with hip and back pain on our current coil (unsure the exact specifications) mattress.

In summary, what retailers or manufacturers should we visit in our area? What would you recommend for a mattress given our mixed sleeping style?

Thanks again for the valuable website! Looking forward to the feedback.

2

Hi Shai0010,

While there aren’t any factory direct outlets right close to you … the good news is that there are a few factory direct and other better options within a reasonable drive … especially in the St Paul / Minneapolis area … so if you go there you will have some very good choices in a wide range of mattresses.

Rest Assured Mattress Rochester MN Rochester, MN. Local factory direct manufacturer. I have talked with Chuck the owner and he makes a range of high quality and value mattresses including latex/innerspring hybrids. Would be well worth including in your research and I think highly of them.

Find an Original Mattress Factory Store Many stores in the Minneapolis area. Regional factory direct manufacturer. Makes a wide range of mattresses including a 2 sided talalay latex hybrid and 2 memory foam mattresses. Good value and good selection but they have more innerspring mattresses than specialty foam options like memory foam or latex.

http://www.restwellmattress.com/ St. Louis Park and Bloomington, MN. Local factory direct manufacturer. Makes a range of mattresses including innerspring (two sided) and memory foam (no latex). Good value but make sure you find out the quality specs of the materials (which they will disclose) because they use a range of densities in both their memory foam and polyfoam mattresses.

Home A local mom and pop supplier in Eden Prairie, MN that supplies mattress components including 5 different firmness levels of 3" Dunlop layers, wool batting, and mattress covers (including wool quilted) that you can put together at home. The work from their home where you can go to test different layer combinations. Since these are components only, you can build a DIY mattress without a fire barrier. As you can see from their many forum posts and contributions (see here), they are knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful.

I’m also including a few retail outlets which may be worth a call or visit that may also have some “better than average” value for reference …

Modern Furniture - Room Retailer in Edina. Sells mattresses made by Restwell which includes innersprings, memory foam, latex hybrids, and all latex. they are better than average value but make sure you check foam densities carefully with their polyfoam and memory foam to make sure of the quality (they do use some lower density memory foam and polyfoam in some of their mattresses and I would use caution with these).

http://www.happysleeperfurniture.com/ Waite Park, MN, Eau Claire, WI. Retail outlet. Carries a range of smaller national brands several of which include both memory foam and latex. They include Corsicana, Ecosleep, Restonic, Englander, and Spring Air.

http://northstarmattress.com/ Medina, MN. Retail outlet. Used to make their own mattresses but now carry national brands. Therapedic…

http://www.mossenvy.com/default.asp Minneapolis, MN. Retailer. Carries Savvy Rest latex mattress which are a “choose your own layering” latex mattress and Naturepedic mattresses. If you go here make sure you call first as some of the savvy rest outlets don’t carry a lot of variety in latex options. good quality but make some good value comparisons because these are in the more premium budget range.

http://www.bedpostfurniture.com/mattresses/ Mankato, MN. Carries Symbol, Therapedic. Knowledgeable and helpful and has some of the largest latex selection in the Mankato area (Therapedic). Well worth talking to and has decades of experience in the industry and good knowledge about mattress materials.

http://mankatomattressman.com/ Mankato, MN. I talked with Justin here who is the owner and he carries Corsicana (low end promotional only), Englander (including latex) and Restonic (including their Tempagel mattresses) and understands the importance of educating his customers about the materials in his mattresses. He is focused on providing good quality and value and building his reputation in the area and would be well worth a visit.

http://www.thefurnituremart.com/locations Medford, Shakopee, and others in MN. Restonic (typically carries gel and latex).

http://www.3daymattress.com/ Owatonna, Austin, MN. Restonic, Symbol, Spring Air, Anatomic Global, Ecosleep. No latex (because of the economy in the area) but does have gel memory foam and is knowledgeable and open about his mattresses.

http://www.beckerfurnitureworld.com/ Multiple locations in Minneapolis area, MN. OMI latex mattresses.

http://www.naturepedic.com/minneapolis Minneapolis, MN. Latex mattresses.

Organic latex mattresses Richfield, MN. Various latex mattresses.

Pure Talalay Bliss is coming soon Pure Latex Bliss (now called Pure Talalay Bliss) makes a range of high quality talalay latex mattresses that are sometimes among the better “local” values even though they are not in the same value range as many factory direct outlets available locally or online. They are a good way to test various different types of talalay latex mattresses and layering combinations because most of the specs are known. Entering you zip code in the retail outlet finder will bring up the closest outlets that carry them.

Your needs may be quite different so a side to side split may be worth considering if it turns out that your individual pressure relief and support needs are different. With mixed sleeping positions … it becomes very important that your husbands pressure relief needs on his sides are met with the thinnest and/or firmest comfort layers that work well (still in the softer range so his shoulders which are likely wider can sink in enough to relieve pressure there on his sides) so that they aren’t too thick for best alignment in his “flatter” sleeping positions … especially on the stomach where good hip/lumbar support is very important to prevent the hips from sinking in too far and causing or aggravating back conditions by sleeping in a swayback position.

For you … pressure relief would be important for your hips which are typically wider in women than in men but again … too thick a comfort layer or especially too soft support layers below this may allow your hips to sink in too far and could aggravate back issues. They key is that they sink in just enough to feel comfortable without sinking in any further than they need to for adequate pressure relief. A good starting point for testing for both of you would be about 3" in the comfort layer but good firm support underneath this would be important for you to prevent sleeping out of alignment. It would be important to spend at least 10 - 15 minutes completely relaxed on a mattress that may be suitable to test for pressure relief on your side and to also spend some time in each of your sleeping positions to test for any out of alignment conditions or back tension issues. Testing with an appropriate pillow is also important.

Hope this helps and if you have questions along the way feel free to post. Take your time and spend as much time as you need to actually lying on each mattress because with back issues or with mixed sleeping positions it becomes important that you choose an appropriate comfort layer for good pressure relief but also no thicker than it needs to be and with good support underneath it for best alignment.

Phoenix

3

Dear Phoenix,

Thank you for the helpful information and for the list of places to check out. After careful consideration, we went with Restwell Mattress Factory. Our salesperson was knowledgeable and affirmed the information we had gathered from doing research on this website. The product for a price overall made us feel we were getting a great value, especially compared to what we were looking at in the local furniture stores here in town. We ultimately settled on a Memory foam mattress through their company that we have found so far (after 1 month) to be comfortable for both of us. Thanks again for the help!

4

Hi Shai0010,

Thanks for your “report” … and congratulations on your new mattress. :slight_smile:

It adds a lot to the forum when we can hear about the end results of someone’s search and I’m grateful that you took the time to share it.

It’s also great to hear when a local manufacturer takes another little bite out of their local market!

Phoenix

5

thanks for the quick reply and excellent info!

6

Phoenix,
Thank you for the informative and well run forum.

My wife and I are in early stages of shopping for a new bed. I’ve read the get started guide and a bit more and think I’m starting to get a grasp of what we want and need.

We live in Minneapolis and visited the Restwell store in St. Louis Park because it was one of the local retailers you recommended.
They do actually offer 1 latex bed. In addition to having a cut away that showed construction of each bed, the manager had a binder with info on materials in each bed, however it didn’t have specific information about the latex density.
The bed had 1 thick layer of latex with three thin layers of regular poly quilting foam on top.
I emailed restwell for additional information.
This is the info they sent in response:
Poly quilting foam is 1.5lb (3 5/8" layers) and the blended latex is a 4lb-7.5" in thickness

7

I would like a little advice/guidance if it is possible.

I think that we want a latex bed. My wife preferred the latex bed at Restwell over the innerspring/pocket coil options.
We are pretty sure we don’t want to get memory foam. My wife has found that when she travels for work, memory foam beds in hotels seem to sleep very hot.

I am 6’1", 220 lbs. I am typically a side sleeper, occasionally a back sleeper. My wife is primarily a side sleeper, she is 5’6" and about 200 lbs.

Because we are side sleepers and heavier than average, based on the information here at mattress underground, I think that we need a thick but slightly less soft comfort layer and a firm support layer.

We had hoped we could spend less than $2000 on a king sized mattress which we would place on a platform bed with storage drawers beneath it.
I thought that a latex innerspring hybrid might be the best choice, because I worried a latex support layer might not be firm enough and might be more prone to wearing out or prone to compressing too much if I’m sitting in bed reading. Additionally it seemed an entirely latex bed might be more expensive than an innerspring and latex hybrid.
From information here, it seems durability of a quality latex support layer would actually be higher than durability of an innerspring.

Though we liked the latex bed at Restwell, I have a couple of hesitations.
First- although the bed was comfortable, the nearly 2 inches of polyfoam on top seems like a weak link. The warranty on it covers impressions over an inch and a half. It seems likely that the foam will wear out well before the latex and that the bed will have permanent impressions that are uncomfortable but not deep enough for warranty coverage.
Second, what exactly does “blended” latex mean for this specific bed? Will it be less durable?
Third - though alignment on the bed seemed good, does just having one big layer of latex under a little poly foam mean the latex is also partially a comfort layer. Will one density be sufficient to be both comfort and support?

I think a mattress without an innerspring may be the way to go, I just don’t want to have low quality poly foam as support or spend a good deal more than we had budgeted.

Though the organic beds at Moss Envy are more expensive, they seem like they might be higher quality (not a latex blend, not poly foam on top, different density layers). I think we will look at Moss Envy. Natural Mattress, though unconventional, seems like it could also bea good choice at a similar price point.

Am I right that we probably need a thick comfort layer and firm support layer?
Would an innerspring hybrid be better than latex support layers?

8

Hi frozenokie,

You’ve probably read this already but just in case you haven’t … the tutorial post here has most of the basic information you will find most useful.

That is probably true but I would let your body tell you which mattresses are the best match in terms of PPP and use “theory” as a secondary guideline.

[quote]I thought that a latex innerspring hybrid might be the best choice, because I worried a latex support layer might not be firm enough and might be more prone to wearing out or prone to compressing too much if I’m sitting in bed reading. Additionally it seemed an entirely latex bed might be more expensive than an innerspring and latex hybrid.
From information here, it seems durability of a quality latex support layer would actually be higher than durability of an innerspring.[/quote]

Latex is a very durable material and you’re right that it would generally be more durable than an innerspring although in most cases the support system of a mattress isn’t the weak link of the mattress in terms of durability (a mattress will tend to soften and break down from the top down). The choice between an innerspring and a latex support layer would be more of a preference choice based on your testing.

[quote]Though we liked the latex bed at Restwell, I have a couple of hesitations.
First- although the bed was comfortable, the nearly 2 inches of polyfoam on top seems like a weak link. The warranty on it covers impressions over an inch and a half. It seems likely that the foam will wear out well before the latex and that the bed will have permanent impressions that are uncomfortable but not deep enough for warranty coverage.[/quote]

As you probably know … I normally suggest a guideline of no more than “around an inch or so” of lower quality materials or polyfoam in the comfort layers. Once you are in the range of 2" or more then it could easily become the weak link of the mattress although this would also depend on the density/quality of the polyfoam. If the polyfoam was in the range of 1.8 lbs or preferably 2 lbs or higher for heavier body weights then it would also be a durable material and wouldn’t be an obvious weak link in the mattress (although it would still affect the “feel” of the latex and would still be less durable than latex).

This would depend on the type of latex. With Talalay it would likely be more durable (in the softer ILD’s at least) and with Dunlop it would likely be less durable. You can read more about the relative durability of different types of latex in post #2 here.

Yes … the top few inches of the mattress are the “comfort layer” even if they aren’t a separate layer. This is the upper part of the mattress that forms the pressure relieving cradle. Latex (and all foam materials) become firmer as they compress more deeply so the bottom part of the same layer would also be the “support layer”. In this case they wouldn’t be separate layers. You can read more about this in post #4 here.

In general a single layer mattress will be firmer (it will compress to a greater percentage of it’s total thickness and foam gets firmer with deeper compression) and may not be thick enough to provide the combination of comfort and support that can be “designed in” with a separate comfort and support layer but it would depend on your body type and sleeping positions and your own personal testing is the most reliable way to know if a mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). There is a little more about the thickness of a thicker mattress relative to weight in post #14 here.

The support layer is not generally the weak link of a mattress and in general the choice between an innerspring and a latex support core would be a matter of preference. A high quality polyfoam support core can also be a durable choice but for most people a polyfoam support core would be a budget choice more than a preference choice. Both innersprings and polyfoam tend to be lower cost than a latex support core so this would also be a reason for choosing them. There is more about some of the differences between a latex/polyfoam hybrid and an all latex mattress in post #2 here.

Moss Envy sells Savvy Rest latex mattress with a choice between organic Dunlop or 100% natural Talalay. They are high quality materials but may not be in the same price range as some other manufacturers that use the same materials and components. The latex sold by Natural Mattress is 100% natural Dunlop and would be the same quality/durability as the Dunlop in the Savvy Rest but it doesn’t have an organic certification as far as I know. You can read more about organic Dunlop latex (and the other types and blends of latex) in post #6 here. They are very similar in design.

Most likely yes but the firmness of each layer will also play a role (thickness and firmness both play a role in how the layers interact together) and it’s better to go by your testing than by “theory”.

Although latex is more durable than most innersprings … the support core is not generally the weak link of a mattress so I would treat this as a preference or budget choice rather than as a “better worse” comparison. Some of the most knowledgeable people I know sleep on a latex/innerspring hybrid which is their preference over any other type (although others I know would choose all latex).

Phoenix