Sealy expands to Montego Bay
Published:Wednesday | May 19, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
McIntosh Bedding Company, the Jamaican franchisee of the top-end Sealy sleep systems, has wrapped up what it said was a six-year search for a well appointed location in Montego Bay from which to showcase and sell its beds in western Jamaica.
The franchise trades as Sealy Mattress Company WI Limited.
While company officials insist on holding close to their chests, the cost involved in setting up the new Sealy Sleep Gallery at shop No 8 at Fairview shopping complex, assistant marketing director, Kevin White, said Sealy had long been searching for a location with the physical characteristics suited to serving clients in the western end of the country.
The 15,000-square foot store was opened on May 10, and, according to White, was, "designed to fit personalised ultra-premium Sealy Posturepedic products to match consumer comfort profile".
Sealy, from its marketing rhetoric, appears to be going after the mid- to high-end of the market for bedding, though its spokesman has shot down the suggestion.
"Our target market is the Jamaican consumers in general. We never prejudge customers. We assume that they need the best and we apply a selling philosophy which directs us to present our full range starting at the top of our sleep system range and provide various options, allowing our client to select the systems that best fits their need," said White.
The Montego Bay store brings to three the number of Sealy sleep centres in Jamaica, with the others located in Lane Plaza on Constant Spring Road in Kingston and Brumalia Plaza, Perth Road in Mandeville.
Sealy beds are manufactured by McIntosh Bedding from its factory outlet at Spanish Town Road, in the capital.
The bedding company, White said, will offer in Montego Bay a comprehensive range of Sealy and Sealy Posturepedic sleep systems complemented by other Sealy bedroom tailored products.
"Our plan is focussed directly on the consumer; we will utilise viable market sources prepared to offer quality customer service in the interest of fully satisfying consumer requirements," spouted White, who said market surveys in western Jamaica had been positive.
While declining to share sales information for the last two years, White said that Sealy was growing.
"Having weathered the storm of social and economic conditions, we are successfully growing market
share. Primary challenges include crime and violence and the (perceived) threat that the rule of law is collapsing."
In addition to retail sales to residential clients, the company also wholesales its bedding to hotels and other large buyers.