A solid night’s sleep sets you up for a successful, productive day — and it takes a properly supportive mattress to cradle your body so it can rest without tossing and turning.
Phil McLellan feels strongly that good mattresses should be affordable for everyone. That’s why the owner of East Coast Pawn Stars decided to open up a mattress emporium in the back of his brightly-lit shop on Prince Street in downtown Truro.
“I know what it’s like to feel like you can’t afford to buy something nice for yourself, but a good mattress is really worth the money,” says McLellan. “We believe a good mattress is important for people to get a good night’s sleep, so we’re trying to make them as affordable as we can.”
The new section of the store, East Coast Mattress and Furniture, is selling brand-new Canadian-made mattresses — twins, doubles, queens and kings.
To celebrate the new venture, they’re running a no-HST sale for the entire month of July — so McLellan says that’s essentially like getting an additional 15 per cent off your purchase.
“The first day we opened, we sold much more than we anticipated,” says McLellan. “No one can beat my prices. We’ll match or beat anyone else’s prices.”
McLellan says most people don’t realize the huge mark-up on mattresses. He’s started looking through local furniture store fliers and seeing equivalent mattresses selling for between $400 and $500 more.
“With these places, you need to wait for a sale to get a reasonable price. We have low prices all of the time, without gimmicky sales,” says McLellan. “And we’re paying everyone’s HST for the month of July, so they’re really getting an additional 15 per cent off our regular prices.”
Just hours after launching East Coast Mattress and Furniture, McLellan says they completely sold out of their $99 mattresses — but more are coming soon.
East Coast Mattress and Furniture currently has 10 beds set up in its showroom for people to test out, since McLellan says mattresses are “a personal preference.”
“We have soft, hard, foam, coils — and everyone’s favourite is different,” says McLellan. “We encourage people to come in and test them out so they can see what feels best on their back.”
East Coast Mattress and Furniture also carries various bed frames, including different styles of bunk beds. McLellan says their Prince Street building has space to expand further back, which will likely happen once he increases his furniture inventory. Customers can even order brand-new furniture from a catalogue for significantly lower prices than they’d pay in a traditional furniture store.
In the meantime, McLellan’s focus is on selling the shop’s brand-new mattresses so more folks can get a good night’s sleep.
The Better Sleep Council recommends replacing a mattress every 7-10 years. If you’re not sleeping well and wake up feeling stiff and sore, it’s likely your mattress is to blame.
McLellan says many of his new customers have commented that they’re suffering from back pain, especially in the morning, which has prompted them to go mattress-shopping. A mattress with proper support, he says, keeps your spine aligned properly while you’re snoozing.
“You spend 1/3 of your life in bed, so you should treat yourself to a good mattress,” says McLellan. “It’s the best investment you can make for yourself.”