Hi trekmall,
When you visit Croydon … make sure you find out the density of any polyfoam or memory foam in their mattresses. While they have been making mattresses for a long time … they sometimes are not as open about some of the materials in their mattresses as most local manufacturers. A search on Croydon (you can just click this) will bring up more comments about this.
Phoenix
I visited the Magic Sleeper store which is in Pottstown, PA (not NJ!!) which is about 20 min west of King of Prussia PA. The store is somewhat run down, but these guys know their mattresses and pricing seems quite good.
But I went with the store closer to my home: Verlo mattresses out of West Chester, PA. The owner, Foster, owns this and the Broomall PA store, but he seems to be in West CHester more than broomall. Foster is a former mechanical engineer and bought the store (I think these are franchises) about 12 years ago. he gives great attention with no pressure. After reading this website thoroughly, I was armed with a lot of info and he gladly answered all of my questions. (My wife grew tired of my questions and left eh store to go shopping!) I went in three separate times over two weeks.My King size is on order and I expect to be very pleased. I’ll be back on tough if I’m not!
I HIGHLY recommend this store
Vince
(a big time consumer report fan, now a mattressunderground fan and overall demanding consumer)
Hi vince,
Congratulations on your new mattress 
Based on feedback … it seems to me that the Verlo store in West Chester (and Broomall it seems) is run by good people and this is great to see. It can turn mattress shopping from a chore to a pleasure to work with a knowledgeable and experienced “expert” that has your best interests at heart.
I’ve changed the “NJ” to “PA” in the Magicsleeper forum listings that had the state wrong. Thanks for letting me know. NOTE ADDED: They are also now a member of this site
I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve received your new mattress and have had a chance to sleep on it a bit.
Phoenix
While in the Philadephia area we checked out “Your Organic Bedroom” in Paoli (they have a showroom in Paoli and in Doylestown. They were WONDERFUL! Very helpful and not pushy at all. They had Savvy Rest and OMI and one I hadn’t heard of out of Colorado. She was more than willing to reconfigure the Savvy Rest for us based on our preferences.
Hi woofwoofgirl,
Thanks for your feedback.
I didn’t realize they had a store in Paoli or that they carried Suite sleep (the one you mentioned from Colorado) so I’ve updated the comments in post #4 of the thread and the others they are listed in … thanks
Angela who owns Suite Sleep is very knowledgeable and what I would call “good people” and is a forum member here as well.
Phoenix
I recently checked out The Magic Sleeper in Pottstown, as they seemed to have some good deals on latex mattresses. The salesperson was absolutely horrible. He acted annoyed the whole time and I could barely get any information out of him. Personally, it is not worth the drive. Maybe if your local to the area stop by and check it out, but it’s definitely not worth it coming from Philadelphia.
Hi CB,
Your experience at Magic Sleeper is unfortunate and I’m sorry to hear it. You can see some similar comments in post #12 here and post #1 - #3 here. I think that some of their staff that fill in from time to time or on weekends don’t appear to be up to the level of knowledge and service that John or Christina provide and for those that go there it’s probably a good idea to call first and make sure that either John or Christine are there when you visit.
It may also be a good idea to call and let them know about your experience so they are aware of it.
NOTE ADDED: They are also now a member of this site and they have also made some changes to their staff so that only members of their family that are knowledgeable and experienced are in the showroom.
Phoenix
Yes, there were other salespeople there that seemed to be helpful. I just happened to get stuck with one of the worst salespersons I’ve ever encountered.
Thank you for posting this recommendation. I’m responding so I can hopefully find this post again, because I had a hard time searching the site for philly retailers, and this is really helpful.
Hi Omega,
I’m glad you found the forum list that was closest to you.
I’m looking forward to any questions or feedback you may have along the way.
Phoenix
I visited the MagIc Sleeper store in Pottstown, PA. Great service from John who helped us pick just the right latex mattress and bed frame. I would definitely buy our next bed there.
Hi CRM,
Thanks for sharing your feedback and letting us know what you ended up purchasing.
It sounds like you made a good choice and as you probably know I think highly of John and Magic Sleeper.
Congratulations on your new mattress
Phoenix
Hello Phoenix!
I am a new member and have been reading the forum for about three months, as long as we have been in the market for a new mattress.
First let me thank you for all this information! I am so excited to know that a whole world of mattresses exists outside of the big box stores!
My husband is 6’ 2", 200+ lbs. and I am 5’ 3", 115 lbs. I have neck, lower back and hip problems. We are both side sleepers. We are sleeping on an old king coil that I have extended the life of by putting layers of foam on it and replacing them when necessary. That is no longer working and for the last two months I have been sleeping in the guest room.
We have had other mattresses and they all cave in so I end up sleeping in a hammock. Rotating the mattresses always puts me in the big hole my husband left behind. I have fallen for the pillow top mattresses in the past and now see that as the weak link.
I need to keep my spine straight and I need to cushion my tender spots. My husband and I would like to have separate mattresses, side by side. We would like a firm mattress (I have often ended up sleeping on the floor beside the bed) that will not easily compress and would last a long time. For cushioning we would like to just have a separate quality piece of latex on top that can be replaced instead of the whole mattress. Any thoughts on this strategy?
We have visited one store, Verlo, in West Chester. We were helped by Foster Good (president). I asked to try a latex bed. Foster had only one that happened to be in the showroom (a special order) but explained that he has great difficulty getting latex. He then showed us the Regal (coil). After spending some time and explaining what we are looking for he helped us select two Twin XL Regal sets with two additional 1" latex pieces to act as a topper. This would cost 2349.00 with delivery. I like very much that if we need to make changes after purchasing the store will do so.
We aren’t sold on this and plan on visiting some of the other stores that you have listed in the area because as you suggest, we would like to experience other types of beds, especially the latex.
We would appreciate any ideas or thoughts that you might have for us. I am sure that I have covered all the essential posts (and then some!) about purchasing a mattress, a lot of information to process and I hope I haven’t missed anything that would pertain to us!
Thank you!
One more thing, I just want to know about the “Amish made mattresses”. They are being advertised as though this is an especially good thing that they are made by the Amish. After having recently read about the Amish puppy mills i am a bit turned off by things Amish!
Hi vonee,
In most cases … it’s the quality of the materials that are used inside most of the mainstream pillowtop mattresses that are the biggest issue … not so much the pillowtop design itself.
There are really two strategies here. One is having separate mattresses that are placed together side by side as a way to accommodate your different needs and preferences. The other is the strategy of buying a mattress and then adding a topper afterwards.
The first strategy is one of several that you can use that can accommodate couples that are in different weight ranges. There is more about this and some of the others in the first part of post #2 here.
The second strategy of adding a topper on top of a mattress can be a little risky because choosing a topper that is suitable for each of you in combination with a specific mattress can sometimes be almost as difficult as choosing a mattress in the first place (see post #2 here). Of course if you can test the mattress/topper combination in person with both of you on the mattress before you buy either one then the risk of making a “less than suitable choice” would be lower. If you choose a suitable combination the strategy can be a good one because as you mentioned you can replace a topper without replacing the complete mattress but the challenge and the risk involves making the most suitable choices for each of them.
There is more in post #13 here about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase but in terms of quality and durability … the only way to know this for any specific mattress is by knowing the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer or who made it (see this article). Many of the Amish made mattresses and foundations though do use good quality materials but knowing this for any mattress is always a matter of knowing the specifics about what is inside them.
Phoenix
I see what you are saying about a separate topper. At Verlo we were able to actually test it and ascertained that 2 1-inch layers worked very well and offered flexibility. But it would all be entirely different on a different mattress.
I think I am just trying to safeguard against a mattress going bad. Experience tells me that; everything feels great at first, until you get it home and sleep on it for a while and that; even the floor works if you have a nice cushy layer on it.
I sound like someone who has had too many sleepless nights.
Thanks for the additional links.
This is where we are headed next.
(https://themattressexpert.com/ Online retailer but they are partnered with https://www.homemattresscenter.com/ in Wilmington, New Castle, and Newark, DE where you can test some of their mattresses.)
Hi vonee,
This is exactly why its so important to know the type and quality/durability of all the layers in a mattress (see this article and the guidelines it links to) so you can make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress that will soften or break down much too quickly relative to the price you paid.
Lower quality and less durable materials can feel exactly the same as higher quality and more durable materials in a showroom because you can’t “feel” the quality or durability of the materials in a mattress … they just don’t maintain their properties nearly as long.
Just make sure you call them first (or any retailer you plan to visit) so you can confirm that they are willing and able to provide you with the specific information that you need about the materials in any of their mattresses you wish to test because if you visit a retailer that either can’t or won’t then you would be wasting the time you spent there no matter how any of their mattresses feel to you.
Phoenix
Okay, thanks, I will keep you posted. By the way, I have so many tabs open on my laptop from all the posts on your site that I want to keep fresh in my mind that it’s almost unusable! And it’s been this way since the day I found you! I can’t wait until this is over and I can have my laptop back. : )
Hi vonee,
I can certainly understand this … yesterday I was working with over 400 tabs and that has only gone down to 353 that I have open at the moment. It’s a cause for celebration if I ever get down to less than 100. I’m very grateful for the “restore previous session” option when my browser crashes.
The problem with my situation is that buying a mattress won’t change the number of tabs that I keep open but I’m looking forward to finding out what you end up deciding so at least one of us can use their computer for something else besides researching mattresses :).
Phoenix
[Promotional post deleted by moderator.]
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jasonsmith123,
I have deleted your post because it was strictly promotional, didn’t contribute to the forum, and violated the “self promotional” rules of the forum. Future posts like this will result in the revocation of your posting privileges on this forum.
Phoenix