Overwhelmed in New Mexico

Hi! I started looking for a mattress a couple of weeks ago and I like to research what I buy before I buy it. So I was a little pissed about the information that covered the topic but also didn’t cover the topic. I was absolutely lost until I found your site! I love the data but I am still overwhelmed by how many choices there are.

I moved from the KC area about six months ago to Farmington, NM 87402. I know nothing much about this area and what options I have available other than the big box stores and one small store I entered. I went to Ashley Furniture store and tried out a few mattresses and I really liked the Comforpedic in Firm. I don’t know what kind it was though – the tag wasn’t clearly marked. The saleslady said it had ‘pocket coils’ and I had no idea what she was talking about.
I tried out JCPenney and another big box store but they really didn’t have anything very comfortable or affordable. I then went to SleepnAire. I told them I wanted a memory foam mattress (now I’m not sure if that’s true) and they led me to the Southerland Atlantis gel mattress. I liked it a lot in the medium. But once I started researching it – there was hardly any reviews. But then I found one on this site! And it made me think that it was not such a good choice.

So now I ask: where should I be looking? I am willing to drive 50-60 miles to try out decent mattresses. But I also have been buying more and more things online since I moved out here. Any advice is welcome and I am grateful for it :slight_smile:

Hi loweye,

The first place I would start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choices and will also help you identify which retailers to work with … and perhaps more importantly … which ones to avoid.

There isn’t a forum list for the Farmington, NM area so I took a quick look around the area (including Farmington and Durango, CO) and the only “possibility” I could see based on the information on their website (I haven’t talked with any of them) and the mattresses they carry that I would consider on a "mattress by mattress basis (and only if they can provide the specifics listed here about what is inside the mattress) is …

http://www.sleepnairemattress.com/ Farmington, Albuquerque, NM. Sherwood, Southerland . I did talk to them some time ago and I believe they carry mostly Southerland in the Farmington location.

Other than that … the closest of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of would be in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe list in post #5 here. The tutorial post also includes links to the better online options I’m aware of as well since there aren’t a lot of good choices available that are close to you.

Phoenix

Hi Loweye,

I’ve been going through the same mattress dilemma in Albuquerque. The bottom line is, mattress buying options, and really all furniture options in New Mexico are dismal. I tried the only two local mattress manufacturers in the state – Albuquerque Mattress Co and White Mattress Co.

Albuquerque Mattress Co basically makes the cheapest kinds of mattresses possible and sells to motels, prisons and, I think, the local military bases (very sad). They have no truly firm mattress, all their mattresses seem to be of poor quality, and they almost never answer the phone. When I finally just went in person, I had to wait while the lady got dressed and came down from her adjacent apartment to open up the place.

White Mattress Co.'s owners do answer the phone, but are pretty much unwilling to answer any questions about how their mattresses are made. The guy I spoke to advised emailing my questions and promised to call me back with a delivery quote, but, 3 emails and 4 months later, no reply.

If you can come to Albuquerque, there are a lot of mattress stores here and they are usually willing to drop their prices significantly. I know that’s a bad sign, but sometimes you just need to buy a bed. Priced Rite Waterbeds sells the only double-sided mattress in town (besides the very sad ones at Abq Mattress Co.). They weren’t firm enough for me, but if you like a plush mattress feel, they offer a pretty good price on Queen sets and might be worth a visit. In Farmington, department stores may be your best bet. My sister got her Simmons Beautyrest mattress on sale at Macy’s five years ago and it’s held up nicely for her, but, even on sale, it was close to $1200 for the King set.

At this point, I’m considering online purchase, too, probably from USMattress. I really want a double-sided mattress, and they offer the Serta Sapphire hotel mattress, which may be OK. I don’t know. The other option seems to be to rent a U-Haul and drive to Denver, but that’s a long trip and would probably tack on another $200 to the mattress cost. But there are a lot of great local and national brand mattress options there.

Hi Nii,

I don’t think that the options available in the Albuqurque area are all that “dismal” and there are certainly some better options and possibilities there. Have you seen the Albuquerque list here I linked in a previous reply?

I would make sure you have read the mattress shopping tutorial and some of the guidelines there before buying any of the mainstream or National brand mattresses at US mattress (or anywhere else for that matter). There is more about this in the guidelines here and some of the other links and information in the tutorial as well. The tutorial includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

The tutorial post also includes several links to lists of some of the better online options I’m aware of that include a wide range of different mattresses that are generally much better quality/value than the mainstream choices you are looking at … and they are also completely transparent about the quality of the materials inside their mattresses so you can be confident that you are buying a high quality and durable mattress and can make more meaningful comparisons to other mattresses.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix, Sorry I didn’t see your reply earlier. The mattress options in Albuquerque are, indeed, dismal. Not a single salesman at any of the retail places you mention on your Albuquerque list, (except Saachi organics and Sequoia, both in Santa Fe, and both of which only sell VERY expensive organic cotton & latex mattresses – no innersprings.) can tell one anything about the way any mattress is constructed. HiLife and Mor Furniture are both shady operations and NOTHING I’ve bought or friends have bought in either store has lasted even a year. I would never make a major purchase at either. Joe Knows Sleep and Sleep-n-Aire carry essentially the same selection as the big box mattress stores and salesman at both can’t tell one much about the actual material content of their mattresses beyond what’s on the manufacturer websites. Salesman at both businesses, for example, have said to me that “you can’t go wrong with a Serta”, which I know from personal experience is far from true. I posted my experience with White Mattress Co. above, and, like a lot of people, I don’t shop at Furniture Row/Denver Mattress because of their extreme right-wing ownership and its strong stance against things like fair minimum wage legislation, marriage equality, and affordable health care. Looking at whether ownership is local isn’t enough in extremely poor states like NM. Many of the local businesses cut as many corners and have as many questionable practices as large corporate manufacturers.

Hi Nii,

I would consider both HiLife and Mor Furniture to be “possibilities” and it would certainly take a little more research to be able to make a good choice there because any of the members here that have spent more than about 2 hours on this site would probably know more meaningful information than the most of the sales people in most mainstream stores.

At HiLife their Pure Latex Bliss mattresses all use high quality materials so there would be no issues with durability with any of these that were a suitable match for you in terms of PPP. You can see the specs of the PLB mattresses here. In other words you wouldn’t need a salesperson to tell you what was inside it or the durability of the materials because you would already know. Post #32 here also has some online sources for PLB mattresses that you could use for price comparisons.

At Morfurniture I would only focus on their Sherwood mattresses which would be a lower risk than most mainstream manufacturers because they tend to use higher quality materials in each price range than the larger manufacturers but these would still be more risky if you weren’t able to confirm from the salespeople what was inside any specific mattress you were considering (if they weren’t willing to call the factory) unless you were to contact Sherwood directly to find out more information about any of their mattresses you were considering there.

My previous comments would apply to these as well and I would limit any mattresses you considered at both of these to the manufacturers I listed (which you normally wouldn’t find in big box stores). Once again you would need to do more “leg work” if you were considering any of their mattresses to confirm the quality of the materials.

It’s unfortunate that you aren’t comfortable shopping at Denver Mattress because they would probably be the best quality/value option in the area and they use good quality materials and are transparent about the materials they use in all of their mattresses. I understand though that principle is a priority over expedience.

Other than these (or any other options that I’m not aware of in the area) … If I was in your shoes I would purchase a mattress online from one of the manufacturers or retailers that are included in the lists in the tutorial post.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix, Thanks for your responses and all the excellent information you provide. I finally found a great mattress place in Albuquerque – a new store, open less than a month, called Urban Mattress: Find a Local Urban Mattress Store Near You.

Their staff – really just the two guys, the owner and one salesman – were the only thoroughly informed mattress salespeople I’ve come across in New Mexico.

The salesman used to work in a mattress factory, so he really understands all the aspects of mattress construction you detail on this site. In addition, they have detailed specs and diagrams for every single mattress they carry, and cross-section cutaway pieces for most, so you can see and touch each layer to really get an understanding of the materials used and the differences between them. The specs and diagrams give all the information about every layer of each mattress, in addition to coil count and the usual things. I bought a Sherwood Lumina firm mattress (don’t have the model name in front of me), and was extra lucky in that, because it had two miniscule oil spots, they sold it to me for $200 off the list price. They also offer free delivery and set-up, and free removal of old mattress sets, and they donate 2% of every sale to local non-profits. This really seems like a business that is trying to do everything right.

I guess it’s probably too late for loweye who started this thread, but I am over the moon that this place opened, and I hope you will add it to your list of recommended places in Albuquerque (and New Mexico in general).

I noticed, by the way, that Sleep-n-Aire, one of the places on your list, has a big going out of business sign in the window, and looks almost empty of mattresses.

Thanks again for this very helpful site,
Nii in NM

Hi Nii,

Thanks for the Albuquerque update … I appreciate it!

I wasn’t aware that Urban Mattress had opened a store in Albuquerque but that’s good news. You can see my comments about them in the Denver/Boulder list in post #2 here and in many similar comments about them throughout the forum such as post #7 here. A forum search on “Urban Mattress” (you can just click the link) will also bring up more information and feedback about them as well. All their stores that I have talked with have been knowledgeable, open, and transparent about their mattresses and they would certainly be well worth considering in any area where they have a store. Needless to say I’ve added them to the Albuquerque list and it’s great to see there is one more good option in your area.

Thanks also for the heads up about Sleep-N-Aire and I’ve added a note to their listing as well.

Most importantly … congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

Phoenix