So…how’d you get into mattresses?!
It’s a question we get a lot, and it's a pretty good story!
Ten years ago, Nick and I were climbing the corporate ladder, had a brand-new baby at home, and decided to take a pretty big leap. We left the security of our jobs and set out to build something of our own: a mattress store in St. Joseph, Michigan.
A decade later, we’ve built a thriving business, a brand we’re incredibly proud of, and a whole lot of relationships with people who have invited us into their homes and trusted us with something pretty important: their sleep.
We feel blessed to be truly living “the American Dream” (pun intended!)
So, if you’ve ever wondered how we got into mattresses in the first place, here’s the story.
10 Years in Our Own Words
For years, Pat Moody has been telling the stories of businesses in our community.
Through his Moody on the Move features, Pat has introduced new businesses, celebrated local success stories, and given the people behind those businesses a chance to tell their stories.
This September, it was our turn.
As Rested Pillow celebrates 10 years this month, Pat stopped by to talk with us about how it all began, what we're proud of, what's new, and some of the things that have made Rested Pillow what it is today.
Take a few minutes and hear the story in our own words:
A Mattress Store Built From Scratch
We started with a pretty unlikely space: a narrow section of the old Hilltop Foods grocery store in St. Joseph, MI.
We gutted it ourselves, built the showroom, and slowly turned a space that had once been a grocery store into a cozy mattress store that didn’t feel like a typical mattress store.
A lot of people who come into the store today remember Hilltop Foods. They’ll point out where they used to shop as kids, or tell us a story about the building. And we still have the marks on the concrete floor to prove where the old floor tiles used to be!
We came up with the name, built the website, figured out social media, and learned a lot as we went. In those early years, Nick ran the store and made deliveries while I was still working in marketing. Looking back, we’re not sure how we did everything.
And when someone walked through the door, loved what we had created, and bought a mattress, we’d go home and do a happy dance in our kitchen.
We still remember our first customers. We remember what they bought. And Nick can still tell you stories about many of the people who walked through those doors in those first few years.
Still Made in Michigan
Ten years later, the mattresses in our showroom are still being made by the same family-owned Michigan company that agreed to partner with us in 2016.
So when you buy a Rested Pillow mattress, you're supporting more than one small Michigan business. You're supporting the families who work at both of them.
From St. Joseph, MI to 40 States
When we opened our doors, we were focused on our little corner of Southwest Michigan.
We never imagined we'd eventually ship mattresses all over the country.
Today, we've shipped Rested Pillow mattresses to 40 of the 50 states. We even did the math recently: if you lined up every mattress we've sold over the last ten years end to end, they would stretch across the Mackinac Bridge!
That's a pretty amazing thing to think about when you remember that this all started in an old grocery store in St. Joseph.
But as much as we've grown, some of our favorite stories are still the ones that happen right here in the showroom.
The People Who Helped Build Rested Pillow
The goal has always been to help each person find the mattress that’s right for them, and that starts with knowing our stuff, asking the right questions and actually listening to the answers.
Over the past 10 years, those conversations have helped us learn even more about how people sleep, what they need from a mattress and how different every body can be. We’ve learned that a customer who walks in convinced they need something very firm may actually need great support with comfort layers that work better for their body and sleep position, sometimes softer than they ever expected.
We’ve also taken what we’ve learned back to our mattress maker. Our lineup today looks very different from the one we started with because we’ve continually refined our mattresses, changed specifications and created beds you simply can’t buy anywhere else. Our zipper mattresses are a perfect example.
And then there are the people.
Sometimes our customers spend 30, 45, sometimes 60 minutes or more lying down horizontally, talking to us. Sometimes it takes several visits. They tell us about their sleep, their families, their jobs, their aches and pains, their travels, the new baby on the way. We’ve helped folks find a mattress for an elderly parent moving into assisted living and helped parents choose a first “big kid” mattress.
You learn a lot about someone when they’re lying on a mattress talking to you for an hour!
They come back to tell us how much they love their mattress, pillow or adjustable base. They stop in just to say thank you. They’ve brought us flowers, pies, wine and gifts. We’ve received handwritten cards in the mail and even a handmade wooden pen crafted by one of our customers from Idaho.
Those are the things you don’t expect when you open a mattress store.
Neither did we expect the number of people who would come back years later, send their parents, their kids, their friends and their neighbors. People tell someone at work about us, mention us on Facebook, or simply say, “You need to go see them.”
After 10 years, we know how fortunate we are to have earned that kind of trust. Nearly 400 people have taken the time to leave us a five-star review, but the reviews are only one piece of it.
The bigger thing is what happens when someone says, “Go to Rested Pillow. They’ll take care of you.”
That’s something we’re incredibly proud of, and we don’t take it for granted.
Thank You
Ten years ago, we took a leap and opened a mattress store in St. Joseph, Michigan.
Today, we’re proud of what we’ve built, proud of the mattresses we make, and incredibly grateful for the people who have been part of the journey.
Thank you for trusting us with something as important as your sleep. Thank you for coming back, sending your friends and family, and telling people about us.
We’ve spent the last 10 years doing what we love, one mattress at a time, and we’re pretty excited about what comes next.
Here’s to the next 10.
Come See Us In St. Joseph
If you're ready for your next mattress, we'd love to have you visit us in St. Joseph or give us a call.
- Nick & Allison Gillespie
Visit the showroom →
Call or text 269-982-1188
Rested Pillow Mattress Company