The Best Places to Buy a Mattress for a Comfortable Night of Sleep

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People sleep for a third of their lives, so the mattress they sleep on is important to their health and wellness. When it’s time to replace a mattress, customers face an overwhelming number of shopping options, from ordering a mattress-in-a-box from an online retailer to trying out multiple mattresses in a local showroom. Determining the best place to buy a mattress can pose a challenge.

Since you can order a mattress online and receive home delivery, e-commerce marketplaces and online retailers offer convenience. Some companies also offer free in-room delivery and setup, while others ship their mattresses compressed in a box. Many companies sell mattresses both online and in brick-and-mortar retail stores.

You may prefer to shop in person at a mattress showroom where you can recline on the merchandise to test it. Keep reading to find reputable sources for buying a high-quality mattress to help you achieve peaceful slumber.

Known for: The innovative team of sleep experts at Bear is dedicated to improving the health of their customers by providing mattresses that promote sleep.

Editors’ Choice: The Bear Pro mattress (available from Bear) features copper-infused gel memory foam for cooling, along with a breathable Celliant cover to help induce muscle recovery via a restorative night’s sleep.

Bear offers mattresses, bed bases, pillows, and accessories such as mattress and pillow covers. They’re a small company of young, athletic professionals who focus on positive customer experiences and products that promote good health through rejuvenating sleep. The team relies on advice from company experts, including a Nike master coach and a sports and rehabilitation chiropractor.

Every Bear mattress includes their Celliant textile, a clinically tested infrared product. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certifies Celliant products as medical devices that aid in revitalizing and peaceful sleep.

Celliant regulates body temperature and promotes comfortable sleep with less “awake time” during the night. As a result of this technology, Bear mattress users awaken with more energy, and they report faster muscle recovery from workouts and sports activities.

Known for: Dedicated to scientific innovation to help create the most comfortable and revitalizing sleep experience, Casper offers mattresses that promote cool and supportive sleeping conditions.

Editors’ Choice: The company claims that their Wave Hybrid Mattress (available from Casper) helps alleviate back pain via its ergonomic support zones. A cool-to-the-touch inner gel helps sleepers stay comfortable.

Casper, a public e-commerce company founded in 2014, manufactures their mattresses in Georgia and Pennsylvania. They sell online as well as in retail showrooms throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Casper offers mattresses to provide support and cooling for sleepers. Their all-foam mattresses are made with perforated, breathable foam, and their hybrid mattresses incorporate multiple inner layers, each designed for a specific purpose. The company’s Airscape layer is perforated foam, and additional layers of Heat Delete Bands help draw body heat away from sleepers. A top layer of QuickCool Cover helps keep the mattress cool to the touch.

Casper participates in continuous research, development, and innovation. In their sleep laboratories, company scientists measure the body heat and spinal alignment of sleepers. Then, they test the fibers that go into their mattresses to ensure they help solve sleep problems and promote restful snoozing.

Known for: Helix Sleep offers mattresses to suit diverse body types and sleeping positions.

Editors’ Choice: The Helix Sunset mattress (available from Helix Sleep) is designed for side sleepers. It features specialized support, pressure point relief, and a breathable cover that helps sleepers stay cool.

Founded in 2015, Helix Sleep offers mattresses, bed frames, pillows, and bedding via e-commerce and at showrooms throughout the U.S. They focus on meeting the needs of sleepers with various body types and sizes, as well as diverse, favored sleeping positions.

The advanced sleep technology employed by Helix Sleep results in specific mattresses designed to suit each sleeper. For example, a side sleeper might opt for a soft, medium, or firm mattress that offers pressure point relief and side-sleeping support.

Alternatively, a back or stomach sleeper may select a body-contouring mattress with a soft, medium, or firm feel. Plus-size and big-and-tall sleepers may find a Helix Sleep mattress for their body type that offers maximum support and body contouring.

Known for: Layla’s flippable foam mattresses boast extra versatility, as they feature both a firm side and a soft side to suit customers’ sleeping preferences.

Editors’ Choice: The flippable Layla Hybrid Mattress (available from Layla) features layers of individually wrapped coils and copper-infused foam, a soft side with a plush feel, and a firm side for increased support.

Since 2016, Layla has sold mattresses, bed bases, pillows, and bedding online. Although they began in the Bay Area of California, Layla manufactures their products in Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Mexico, and El Salvador.

Layla makes their mattresses from copper gel-infused memory foam. The copper gel allows the mattress to remain soft and contouring, but it increases firmness around deep compression spots where additional support is needed. They use copper for its purported antimicrobial properties and ability to kill odor-causing bacteria to help ensure a healthier sleeping experience.

Known for: With over 2,400 showrooms across the United States, Mattress Firm offers a large inventory of mattresses from a variety of manufacturers.

Editors’ Choice: The Sealy Posturepedic Summer Rose 14″ Plush Euro Pillow Top Mattress (available from Mattress Firm) features 660 individually wrapped coils, along with cooling technology and hypoallergenic properties.

Mattress Firm offers mattresses, bed frames, pillows, bedding, and baby bedding from multiple manufacturers, including well-known brands such as Serta, Beautyrest, Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Stearns & Foster, and more.

Shoppers may select from a large inventory of mattresses at various price points, sizes, levels of firmness, and materials. For example, mattresses are available in six bed sizes.

Customers can choose the quality and materials that best suit their sleeping needs by perusing mattresses from multiple manufacturers. They can then narrow their search according to bed size, mattress height, price range, manufacturer’s brand, firmness level, and preferred sleeping position. Additionally, Mattress Firm offers mattresses with specialized features and materials, such as cooling capabilities, low motion transfer, gel memory foam, and encased coils.

Known for: Dedicated to offering affordable comfort and premium materials at competitive prices, Nectar Sleep seeks to provide the most comfortable mattresses for better sleep.

Editors’ Choice: The Nectar Premier Copper Memory Foam Mattress (available from Nectar Sleep) offers multiple layers of comfort, support, and cooling capacity.

Founded in 2016, Nectar Sleep offices are in San Francisco, New York, Tel Aviv, and London. In addition to online sales, their mattresses, bed frames, bedding, bedroom furniture, and dog beds are available in 2,000 stores throughout the U.S.

Nectar Sleep mattresses feature multiple layers made from diverse materials to serve different purposes. The no-slip cover on the bottom ensures the mattress stays on the bed base. A foam base layer creates stability; a dynamic layer offers support for the back and muscles; and a gel memory foam layer offers cooling capability. On the top, a cooling cover made with heat-wicking copper fibers creates a cool-to-the-touch surface for restful sleep.

Known for: Overstock is an online retailer that offers a broad selection of mattresses from six different manufacturers.

Editors’ Choice: The Slumber Solutions 14-inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress (available from Overstock) features a 2-inch gel foam top layer for cool comfort, a dense foundation layer for stable support, and a foam base layer.

Beginning in 1999 as an online retailer for closeout merchandise, Overstock offers new products as well as surplus and liquidated items. Located near Salt Lake City, Overstock is a large e-commerce website that sells furniture, linens, home decor, home improvement items, appliances, and more.

Mattresses manufactured by Sealy, Lucid Comfort Collection, Slumber Solutions, Zinus, and Kingsdown are available on the Overstock website. Shoppers may choose from a variety of sizes, styles, and materials at a range of price points.

For example, customers can choose from mattresses from 6 to 14 inches thick. Additionally, they may select specific comfort levels, ranging from ultra-plush to extra firm. Available materials and designs include memory foam, innerspring, pillow-top, and mattress-in-a-box options. Shoppers looking for special features may find cooling, hypoallergenic, and platform-friendly mattresses at Overstock.

Known for: Purple claims that its signature GelFlex Grid is a temperature-neutral, breathable memory foam that cradles the body and flexes to provide support by responding to sleepers’ movements.

Editors’ Choice: The Purple Hybrid Premier (available from Purple) mattress is crafted with a deep gel grid layer and premium coil system designed to cradle the body, relieve pressure points, and create a floating feeling that promotes peaceful sleep.

Brothers Terry and Tony Pearce, who have backgrounds in engineering and manufacturing, started Purple in 1989. Early on, they developed a hyper-elastic polymer that helps provide pressure-relief cushioning for wheelchair users. Over the years, the brothers began to manufacture their no-pressure mattresses in multiple bed sizes, along with options for variable thicknesses and wrapped coils.

Customers may shop for Purple mattresses at more than 2,000 retail-partner stores throughout the U.S., including Macy’s, Rooms to Go, and Mattress Firm. Alternatively, the company fills online orders with 100-day home trial periods for returns and exchanges.

While the signature gel grid forms the basis for Purple’s supportive and pressure-relieving mattresses, they also offer hybrid mattresses that incorporate layers of individually wrapped coils. Additionally, Purple products include pillows, bedding, bed frames, pet bedding, and more.

Known for: Saatva offers luxury mattresses made from premium materials such as hypoallergenic organic cotton, plush memory foam, and coiled inner-spring systems.

Editors’ Choice: The Latex Hybrid Mattress (available from Saatva) features breathable and hypoallergenic comfort and support along with a special antimicrobial treatment to help prevent the growth of mildew, mold, and bacteria.

CEO Ron Rudzin launched Saatva in 2010, and the company is based in New York City. Saatva specializes in online sales, but they have one public viewing room in NYC.

Offering a 180-night home trial period, Saatva promises to pick up mattresses for return or exchange with only a modest shipping fee. Additionally, the company offers free in-room delivery and setup for their mattresses and bed frames.

Customers interested in clean, healthy sleeping conditions may appreciate the hypoallergenic and antimicrobial properties of Saatva mattresses. For comfort and support, Saatva constructs the mattresses with layers of memory foam on top of pocketed coil springs. Because of their reputation for helping to alleviate back pain, Saatva mattresses have been awarded the seal of approval by the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations.

Known for: The dual adjustability feature of Sleep Number mattresses facilitates independent modifications of comfort and firmness for each side of the bed.

Editors’ Choice: The Sleep Number 360⁰ p6 Smart Bed (available from Sleep Number) is adjustable for each sleeper and also offers firmness adjustments in response to sleepers’ movements. It features temperature-balancing technology designed to create a cool slumber.

Couples who share a bed may appreciate the ability to set separate firmness levels for the individual sides of their Sleep Number mattress. Founded in 1987 as Select Comfort, the Minneapolis-based company changed its name to Sleep Number Corporation in 2017.

Sleep Number mattresses modify their firmness via smartphone apps or remote controls with numbered settings. The two sides of each mattress operate independently, so individuals sharing one mattress may adjust the mattress to their specific comfort. Flexible technology allows sleepers to raise the head or foot of the mattress, and split mattresses fit adjustable bed bases that facilitate independent positioning of both sides of the bed.

Sleep Number mattresses are available in over 600 store locations throughout the U.S. Additionally, they fulfill online orders with a 100-night home trial period and offer free in-room delivery and setup.

Known for: Wayfair, an e-commerce marketplace, offers mattresses from multiple manufacturers to feature diversity in construction and pricing.

Editors’ Choice: The Wayfair Sleep 12″ Medium Gel Memory Foam Mattress (available from Wayfair) provides the comfort of foam along with low-motion transfer and breathable cooling technology.

Wayfair is a global e-commerce marketplace that sells furniture, home decor, and home goods. Founded in 2002, the online company is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Wayfair website offers mattresses from numerous suppliers, including Serta, Sealy, Beautyrest, Wayfair Sleep, Zinus, and more. Mattresses are compressed and rolled and shipped to customers in a box.

Customers may choose from foam, innerspring, and hybrid mattress types suitable for multiple bed sizes and adjustable-positioning bed bases. The gel memory foam and latex foam mattresses offer comfort as they mold to sleepers’ bodies. Innerspring mattresses provide resilience and support via layers of coiled springs. Hybrid mattresses combine layers of gel memory foam paired with pocketed coil springs.

Known for: WinkBeds mattresses reduce back pain and promote healthy sleep via lumbar support and pressure-point relief.

Editors’ Choice: The GravityLux mattress (available from WinkBeds) features the plush comfort of memory foam, along with pressure-point relief, motion isolation, and zero heat retention.

WinkBeds mattresses are handmade to order by skilled workers at factories in Watertown, Wisconsin and Orlando, Florida. Committed to diligent craftsmanship and wellness through comfortable sleep, the company has been in operation since 2014. WinkBeds engages primarily in online sales, but their mattresses also are featured in seven showrooms throughout the U.S.

Designers at WinkBeds believe that prevention and relief of back pain are important considerations. Their Talalay latex creates a “no-pressure” feel for sleepers. Additionally, lumbar pads and zoned innersprings contour to the body and offer support where needed.

Customers may choose WinkBeds mattresses constructed from gel memory foam, latex foam, individually wrapped coils, and combinations of these three materials. In addition to support and plush comfort, WinkBeds helps ensure cool sleep via its Air Cell memory foam.

Cinemas in UK greet reopening success driven by Peter Rabbit 2

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Cinema owners have enjoyed a strong opening weekend in the UK, with the biggest box office takings since cinemas were first forced to close 14 months ago.

Cinema owners took an estimated £7m in ticket sales over the weekend, the best take since 6-8 March last year, led by Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. The previous weekend high was the £6m taken by Tenet when it was released last August.

Cineworld said the first weekend that audiences had been allowed back into cinemas went “beyond expectations”. Shares in the company, the UK’s biggest chain with 127 sites, jumped 4% as investors cheered the prospect of a rapid return to pre-pandemic cinema-going levels.

Rival Odeon said that it sold 25,000 portions of popcorn, 9,000 portions of nachos, 3,000 hot dogs and 25,000 litres of fizzy drinks in the first four days following the reopening of cinemas last Monday.

Odeon, which operates 112 sites across the UK, said it recorded double the attendance levels compared with any weekend during the last reopening period from July to November last year. The busiest regions for cinema-going in the first week back open were north-west England and Yorkshire, said Odeon.

Cineworld, which has kept all its UK sites shut since 8 October, also said that it saw strong sales at concession stands while Godzilla vs. Kong also proved a big drawcard, despite having already previously been released online.

“This weekend’s performance went beyond our expectations as customers were eager to return to the movies and enjoy the full movie experience,” the company said on Monday.

In the US, about 502 cinemas – or 97% of Cineworld’s local network – have reopened. Across the rest of the world, its cinemas in Poland and Israel will open their doors at the end of the week, meaning that most of Cineworld’s 727 global sites will be operating by the end of the month.

It comes just in time to screen Disney’s Cruella, starring Emma Stone, and the horror film A Quiet Place Part II.

“We are thrilled to have our cinemas back in business in the US and UK and to welcome movie fans back to the big screen for an exciting and full slate of films,” the Cineworld chief executive, Mooky Greidinger, said.

“When combined with improving consumer confidence and the success of the vaccination rollout, we expect a good recovery in attendance over the coming months, noting the record-breaking success of F9 in the Asian market.”

Like most retail and leisure chains, Cineworld’s finances have been hit hard by Covid restrictions on meeting in groups and indoors. The company reported a record $3bn (£2.2bn) loss for 2020, when revenues tumbled 80% from $4.3bn pre-pandemic to $852m last year.

Despite the poor results, Cineworld executives have pushed through a new scheme in which bosses could be awarded more than £200m in shares if the company’s stock bounces back to pre-pandemic levels. Almost 30% of shareholders failed to back the controversial pay plan, which could result in Greidinger, and his brother and deputy, Israel, receiving awards worth £33m each.

That is despite having secured more than $1bn in financial lifelines to weather the pandemic. The group also confirmed on Monday that it had received a $203m tax refund under the US Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act.

Cineworld’s shares are down about 50% from their pre-pandemic level of 181p.

Why Quick-Serves Should Invest in Long-Term Digital Change

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Having an app and web ordering is no longer enough for quick-service restaurants to bank on meeting customer expectations. At the start of the pandemic, restaurants were thrown in at the deep end and forced to manage a dual threat of both keeping workers safe and the sudden shutdown of the dining room. Firms that had existing curbside experiences saw sudden adoption—those who had mobile ordering benefited greatly and the rest saw drive thru line acting as the primary driver of their business. Curbside adoption alone experienced a five-fold increase during the pandemic, growing from 15 to 71 percent.

Many boards and executive teams had to confront a difficult reality: they had underinvested in digital and needed to accelerate capabilities ASAP. The focus of entire executive teams shifted overnight and digital became priority number one. The old adage of the “unattainable triangle” between speed, quality, and cost was truer than ever. We saw many brands go from no digital to digitally-enabled in ten weeks or less by implementing ‘off the shelf’ solutions and “product accelerator” approaches to get to market quickly. With the “box checked” and a leader installed to manage the new digital platforms, executives shifted focus to other things, such as the emerging labor crisis in the quick-service space.

While it’s important to celebrate victories and the tremendous lift that IT, marketing, and product teams made to implement a digital ordering solution, it’s important to not confuse the starting line with the finish line. Changes in spend—associated with pent up demand from the pandemic—aside, as a leader in the quick-service space, you can’t lose focus on the future.

If your organization does not continue to allocate more and more budget to digital operations year over year, you’ll find your brand susceptible to two serious headwinds:

A reduction in guest frequency and brand consideration, as share of wallet is creatively exploited by competitors who have formed closer relationships with guests.

Devaluation by analysts and investors. Make no mistake—analysts are closely following and applying digital maturity scores to quick-serves and as more of the business becomes digitized, the relative weight of this factor will only increase.

Chipotle is setting an example of what to do. Strategically doubling down on a digital-first approach has seen digital sales soar 177 percent in one year. Nearly one half of sales now come from digital. Long-term growth now lies in creating emphasized change and a digital-first culture that will see a brand through the next 36 months, not 12.

White label solutions will only get brands so far

There are endless tech options on the market for brands, but they usually allow for the immediate expansion of a particular feature. Despite the quick-service restaurant space being considered a frontrunner in digital sales trends, customer satisfaction remains low in some areas. According to a recent survey from Incisiv, only 40 percent of respondents were satisfied with their pickup experience and a mere quarter with delivery. The same report notes the overall digital maturity in the segment remains a “low-medium”. It’s clear that digital needs are shifting from simply fulfilling an online order, to preparing for heightened customer expectations for seamless, minimal contact. It’s even been estimated that digital sales will make up more than half (54 percent) of all quick-serves and limited-service restaurants sales by 2025, meaning brands will have to innovate off-premise models to remain relevant.

So, while restaurants take action in ramping up online-ordering mechanisms, we need to pay more attention to creating consistent, engaging digital outreach and customer service. To create a digital ecosystem that consumers really want, and account for stronger future demand, players will place more importance in building out internal capabilities and investing in emerging technologies. Think outside the box—everything from implementing pay at table options to reduce waiting times, to delivery drones to reach more customers, faster.

Wingstop is considered a challenger due to its commitment to digital upgrades. The chicken wing chain has outperformed Wall Street’s best restaurant stocks, including Domino’s and Chipotle, surpassing $1 billion in digital sales in 2020. That’s 60 percent of the company’s total sales. Wingstop knows its customers and uses it to its advantage. It knows delivery is becoming a greater growth opportunity, because guests using this channel tend to be new. Wingstop also plans for personalization to play a bigger role in generating repeat custom from the growing new digital customer base and loyal returners. Taco Bell, on the other hand, generates just 10 percent of its sales through digital channels, due to consistent underinvestment and lack of aligned aspirations at a leadership level.

Creating a digital-first culture

A Rakuten study found customers who wait under two minutes for an order are four times more likely to repeat purchase, revealing that opportunity lies in efficiency. But it doesn’t always matter how long it takes the order to be completed—if operations can’t run a tight ship, a restaurant won’t drive long-term results. Why isn’t Taco Bell’s digital ordering getting widely utilized? Because its operations, marketing, technology, product and digital strategies aren’t in sync. Taco Bell has digital, without really using digital.

A digital-first company culture, that’s aligned with ever-evolving customer expectations, should be engrained. Providing staff with resources to understand the new technologies available to them, through training across all units, will help ordering service remain relevant and personalized. Chick-fil-A has a great ability to not only keep customers engaged, but also provide tailored service. The fast food chain knows how to drive digital as part of its culture, and creates synergies between high tech and high touch to ensure the customer leaves satisfied. Although as simple as it may sound, I ordered a meal digitally from a Chick-fil-A recently and its customer service team actually texted me to say they didn’t have lemons at that moment to make my drink. It left me feeling valued and that my experience mattered to them, hence why I’ve returned since. Collaborating with a long-term digital growth partner can guide brands on how to orchestrate their teams in this way, to ensure operations are leveraging digital throughout the customer journey.

Plan ahead

Restaurant chains are in the habit of implementing standardized solutions that aren’t designed to create the best ROI or long-term growth. Drawing on lessons from the past year, quick-serves should be shifting priorities to achieve greater future digital penetration. Emphasized change should be seen in operating models put in place to weather industry uncertainty and increased competition from grocers and subscription services. There’s plenty of runway for digital growth, but to tap into this, brands must drive change as part of their culture. Teams that can establish shared digital goals across departments can unlock the true value of digital.

Peter Klayman, the quick-service restaurant and restaurant practice leader at Bottle Rocket, discusses why sustained investment in digital will create competitive moats for restaurant brands and the long-term importance of building a digital-first company culture.

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