Mattress Warehouse in Woodbridge, VA with Bill Papettas and Tracy Jones
Guest: Bill Papettas and Tracy Jones
Topics: Mattress Warehouse, COVID-19
Transcript:
Chris Ressa 0:01
This is retail retold the story of how that store ended up in your neighborhood. I’m your host, Chris ReSSA. And I invite you to join my conversation with some of the retail industry’s biggest influencers. This podcast is brought to you by DLC management.
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Welcome to retail retold everyone today we have Tracy Jones and Bill Pettis. Tracee is the Vice President of Marketing for mattress warehouse. And Bill is the president of mattress warehouse, their tenants at DLC properties and excited to have him on the show. Welcome to the show, Tracy and Bill. Thank you. So why don’t you just tell us a little bit about who you are and what you all do?
Tracey Jones 1:25
Yeah, so I am Tracy Jones. I’m the Vice President marketing and mattress warehouse. That includes a bunch of stuff. So everything from branding, to advertising to strategy to, you know, making sure that people know exactly who we are and where we are. You know, we’re fortunate that we sell a product that nearly everyone uses, right? Almost everybody sleeps in the bed. So for us to be able to provide that service and also improve people’s lives by improving their quality of sleep. We’re lucky, we’re lucky to get to do what we do.
Ressa 1:59
That’s awesome. And Bill?
Bill Papettas 2:03
I’m the president of mattress warehouse and responsible for the day to day operations and our growth strategy. And then fortunate to have a lot of really smart people working with me to help us get there.
Ressa 2:19
Totally. Team is very important. I understand that all too much. So how many locations do you all have today? We have 283 locations right now. And
Papettas 2:02
Bill better
we should be near 300 locations by the end of this year.
Ressa 2:38
Wow. That’s amazing. And so there’s been a I think the mattress industry is pretty fascinating. I would say for a long time, you know, it was a pretty steady industry. And then comes all these things that are happening, whether it’s purple mattress and box mattress in a box and caspers and the whole Mattress Firm bankruptcy. And it’s been a very interesting, I think over the last five years more has gone on in this business than other industries. What’s been happening, what are your thoughts on where the mattress industry is today and where it’s going?
Papettas 3:21
Fortunately, it’s a it’s a business that everybody uses the product. We’re fortunate in that regard. And, you know, the industry is evolving. Like most retail industries are evolving at this point in time, right, you got, you know, purple and Casper and people coming in with the direct to consumer and acids that are now shifting into retail and shifting into brick and mortar retailers. Like ourselves. Nectar was a big disrupter in the industry. And we were the first retailer that they for their product and, and like a lot of direct consumer products, they realize we need brick and mortar to really take the business to the next level. You can’t just take the business digitally. And keep going because it’s very costly. Yep. And, you know, so it’s an evolving business that had some disruption. And you know, it’s a business that you have to be able to talk to the consumer, it’s a product they don’t buy very often. So when you have a product that people don’t buy very often you have to be able to talk to them and get them to understand why you what’s different about you and other places. And you know, we have invested heavily in technology, which is unusual for our industry. So you know, usually the experience in our industry is going in and you try a bunch of mattresses out and hopefully you find one you like and then you go out and we take a scientific approach. And one of the things that we’ve done which is very different is bringing in diagnostic systems and taking that diagnostic system which will go and measure 19 different air is of the person’s body, and then take into account where they have pain, take into account the amount of pressure relief they need, are they a side sleeper? Or are they back sleeper, and then take all of that and come up with a recommendation of mattresses that’s going to support the person, give them the appropriate pressure relief, and make sure they could sleep through the night. And we’ve taken that not just in our stores, but also taken a virtual bed match on sleep happens.com, our website, and people can go through and answer a bunch of questions on the virtual version, we got the algorithms where it’ll get you about 90 to 95% of the way there by answering all these questions about your body and body type. But in the store, it’ll actually measure you. And the newest generation that we put in there, you can actually feel the sensors as you’re doing your work and kind of moving through your body. And that technology is something consumers love. Because you go in there and you don’t know. And if you think about the product, it’s a product you use when you’re asleep, and you’re buying when you’re awake. Right. And
Ressa 6:13
I never thought of it that way that’s really interesting, easy
Papettas 6:16
thing, are you buying something that you need to use when you’re sleeping, but you’re awake, and your body goes through all the sleep stages at night. And during the REM stage is actually the point in time when the mattress really has to work. It doesn’t work when during REM sleep, you’re going to wake up with a lot of pain. And you’re going to wake up because what happens during REM sleep is that your body to protect itself goes into a state of paralysis, so to speak, your your your muscles are no longer supporting your spine and your your skeletal structure. And the reason it does that is because if it didn’t, you try to act out your dreams. And you hurt yourself. Right? So part of how we evolved, right? And so that your brain turns that part off, your body then needs to be supported. If it doesn’t, you wake up and I have my my back is killing. My side is killing me. I don’t know, what’s the matter. And you know, people would come in and we’re trying to buy mattresses, and they go home and go even it doesn’t feel like it did in the store? Well, because you were awake. Right? You were awake, your body’s being supported by your muscles. So we had to figure out a way how do we get you know the right mattress, because you know people are they’re buying it, it’s not something they buy, often, they don’t tend to have a lot of affinity for any one brand. Because they are in this. They needed a research they bought. And then they forget about it for decades. Right? So it’s an odd type of purchase. So we said well, how do we, you know, how do we solve this. And we found a great partner and, you know, scientifically developed process. And it’s very, you know, the way we use it is very transparent for the consumer where they can see all the things that are in the store, and they can then see here’s your recommended selection and that our sales professionals in the store can go through and help guide them through that experience, so that they end up with the right product at the right price. And it’s been a winning formula consumers like, you know, they like being able to have a more refined experience. And, you know, I think when you look at retail today, it’s about that experience, and what do you provide them for the consumer? Why does the consumer want to see you or go to your brand versus someone else’s. And a lot of it’s going to come down to those experiences in store, you know, in an industry that you don’t have a lot of change. Injecting technology into our basic fundamental business plan. And the consumer experience has really been great for the consumer, and we get it from their feedback, they they wouldn’t have picked what they got, if we didn’t do that.
Jones 9:17
Yet. And when you think about the mattress industry, you know, it falls into one of two buckets, you’ve got these brands, these brands that have 100 White rectangles on the floor, find the one that’s right for you, as a consumer, you have no idea on the other side of it. You’ve got these brands who say we only sell three beds, any of them are going to be right for you. And neither one of those are are correct at all. And so by what Bill was saying when taking the the different approach of implementing technology and saying, Yes, we have 100 White rectangles on the floor, but only a couple of them are going to be right for you. Let us help you find them through this diagnostic system. And the experience is very different than what you would find anywhere else. And I think that that’s why our customers are much happier and more satisfied as a whole
Ressa 10:00
That’s awesome. Really cool. You mentioned talk to the consumer and Tracy, you’re in marketing, how are you guys focused on reaching your consumer and talking to them?
Jones 10:11
You got to talk to them where they are. Right? So you know, people right now, in this pandemic phase, people are at home. So we find ways to talk to them through digital means. We do podcasts a lot, you know, because people are, in the beginning, library was focused on the news, and they will know exactly what was going on. And now we’re finding people are burnt out, they do not want to talk about the news anymore, they don’t listen to the news. We’re still there for those who want to, but then we’re in other places people are like, you know, I want to go outside, I’m gonna take a walk and put a podcast in my ears, we make sure that we’re talking to them there. People are savvier today than they’ve ever been before. So we make sure we have a very heavy digital presence as they’re searching. They’re like, You know what I need to find the closest mattress store to me, I’m not going to go to five or six different stores right now, because it’s too risky. So we want to make sure that when they do a search that we’re there for them, as well as the messaging that yes, we’re there and we have our clean shop promise, we’re going to make sure that you are clean and protected. As you come into our store, in the beach with masks and mattress covers and pillow covers. So it’s not even talking to them. Just talking to them of where they were, but also making sure that they’re getting the right message that is gonna be relevant to them.
Ressa 11:27
And that brings up a great point, how are consumers feeling about, you know, right now laying on a bed, you know, coming out of a pandemic is? Or are they feeling good about doing that? I know, you guys are providing safe environments for people. And it’s fantastic. I think you guys are doing a best in class job at that. But how are they generally feeling and how’s that conversation gone with the consumer,
Papettas 11:51
I think it’s a lot like the new cycle, right, as the new cycle gets people worried about things, they become more concerned. And, you know, there’s a lot of people that are very, they’re a freeway, right, you have fear in the marketplace right now. That’s a driving factor. So, you know, going into the pandemic and the shutdowns and we said, we’re gonna need to come out of this and create a safe place for them, and we’re gonna have an opportunity to get the one visitor. So having the technology by itself, you know, wasn’t going to be in our mind enough. So we went ahead, and we sourced individual protective gear for each customer. So when they come in, we can put it on top of the mattress, we can, you know, the pillows are covered. And we thought that was gonna be very important, coming into this environment to let them know, hey, look, we know that this might be a little scary, but we’re going to do everything we can to make sure you’re safe in our four walls, you know, we required masks early on, we acquired protective gear, we had masks to give to customers, so that when if they didn’t have one, we could provide it to them. And that’s not just important for that customer before another customer that may come in, when they’re in their, you know, visiting stores right after they opened, you know, I would see customers waiting in their cars, until somebody left before they would walk in. Right, not even wanting to be in the space with somebody else. So, you know, the customers were nervous, and you know, certainly that’s going to have an impact on, you know, traffic coming in, or people wanting to say, you know, maybe I’ll just try to buy something inexpensive online, and I’m not happy with it. I’ll buy another one later. Or people coming in saying I bought one online, and it really is not suiting my needs on a lot of pain. So we’re just trying to make people as comfortable as possible, keeping them as safe as possible. Putting in a lot of safety protocols and cleaning protocols in the store above and beyond what we normally did reduced hours in order to make time for private appointments for people so that they can come in and shop without other people in the store and set up an interface to do that on the website. So they can go to sleep patterns.com and set up a private appointment. So we were trying to think of what are all the things we need to do. And, you know, so that when a consumer is making that decision, and we know that this is on your mind, we can make them feel as safe as possible given these times.
Ressa 14:37
That’s awesome. You mentioned that everyone has a mattress and one of the most searched keywords on Google in 2019 were things around sleep and sleep health and sleep quality. So there’s obviously you know, probably more than ever people are paying attention about on sleep there, there’s, you know, more than ever, we have more information about sleep, you go on social media, someone’s always talking about what quality sleep means to your health and all all that good stuff. And so you have this industry where people are more aware, and they’re concerned about it. And then you have, it’s something that a bed that everyone needs. And so where does that take the businesses that leave? Like, you know, I look at that, and I think, wow, there’s a lot of room to grow. And then at the same time I look at, well, there’s Casper now and nectar and Purple Mattress, and is there still this room feels like all the furniture, traditional furniture stores want to get into the mattress industry? Is there continued growth for you know, this business mattress business on the go forward.
Papettas 15:55
So, you know, I think like all industries, there’s going to be room for growth. You know, I’m a pretty optimistic
Ressa 16:05
person saying,
Papettas 16:07
this is just gonna be a blip on the radar. And we look back at 2020, in, you know, another five or 10 years, it’s been a while, we figured out how to do a lot of stuff, different force a lot of innovation, they made us change our mind about doing things or change challenged us in changing our business plan, or challenged us to think of better ways to do things for consumers. And I think for brands in every industry, regardless of what you do, you’re gonna have people that figure out how to do things in a way that consumers love and go, and those brands will grow. And there’ll be other people that dig their heels in and say, we’ve done it this way forever. And we’re just going to keep doing it this way. You know, and you look out right now, and especially in the restaurant industry, I think you’re seeing some restaurant companies that are really figuring out how to evolve quickly, right? Where they’re now they’re all they have to do things outside the box, you have ghost kitchens, you have all these other things that are doing to try to figure out how to completely morph their business, because now they can only have 25% of their tables filled my health partner, man, people are freaked out sitting in those environments. And, you know, they’re figuring it out so that they have a plan to go in. There’ll be a bunch that don’t make it and a bunch of thrive. And I think that’s true of every business, it’s going to be up to, you know, how do you evolve? How do you change? How quickly do you challenge your own thoughts around what you do every day, to allow you to change and go where you need to go. And if you’re listening to consumers, they’ll tell you where to go. Right. If you listen to the consumers, they’ll tell you where to go. And that’s with every industry, from real estate, to retail, you know, they’ll tell you where the needs are going to be and what you need to do to be one of the people that they trust. And if they trust you, you’re gonna grow. And I’ve always had that outlook on retail
Ressa 18:09
phenomenon, drop the mic, you got it, you got to be willing to listen to the consumer and evolve. And that was, that was really sage advice. Really interesting perspective there. All right. So I’m conscious of time, I want to keep going, those great insights on the mattress industry and what we have and what you guys are seeing today and what you’re seeing on a go forward. So I really appreciate that perspective. I want to talk a minute about it. You know, you you all opened a few stores coming out of the pandemic, which I think is exciting for retail. It’s exciting for mattress warehouse. It’s exciting for the industry. So you have a story about in Woodbridge, Virginia, Why don’t y’all tell us how that happened?
Papettas 18:59
So Woodbridge, Virginia, we opened a store on opens Avenue and we opened it. I’m guessing we were only open a couple of weeks coming out of the pandemic. So we had a lot of challenges reopening and re gearing up because we were shut down 100% during the pandemic. And coming out of that it takes a little bit of time to get all the wheels going. And so the story of Woodbridge, Virginia, it was we have a landlord that we have another store with and we had a long relationship with and they were developing this property and came to us and said hey, we think you’d be a great fit here. Here’s what we’re doing a little bit of a mixed use space of offices of top retail on the bottom. And, you know, presented it to us and you know, we said yeah, we think we would do well there. We think it’s a good place to be. And we went ahead and said okay, let’s go and then the landlord ran through all sorts of road bumps, and you know, going in developing a piece of art Pretty sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen or you don’t know that all of a sudden, there’s an easement that’s been disputed or something gets litigated. And, you know, something gets put on hold, or the county says, We can’t let you do this or can’t let you do that. Sometimes it’s a change in administration, so to speak at the county law. Yeah, different perspectives around how that job gets done, and what they approve. So the building was up, and was scheduled to, actually, I believe it was scheduled to open in late 2017, early 2018. And, you know, everything just kind of got put on hold as they had to jump through a lot of hurdles and get a lot of things cleared to get, you know, all the proper CEOs and let everybody open up. So during the pandemic of all times, that all those barriers kind of cleared, they had way more call distance said, Well, I think we’re okay now. And it was during the pandemic, when everything shut down. What? Yeah, so, you know, do you know, are you gonna be able to go, do you want to go? What’s going to be happening there? And, you know, we made a commitment, we should? Yeah, you know, everything is clear, you know, we’ll we’ll go, you know, we’ll figure it out and challenged our team to figure out how do we go from completely shut down, reopening 283 stores, and oh, by the way, let’s open a new store at the same time, you know, the fit and finish of the inside and getting all the vendors to deliver product while their factories are closed, and, you know, all these other things that have to happen there in order to make it happen. And, you know, just, I can’t speak enough of the great team we have here. And the partnerships we have with our all the people we do business with, they all stepped up, everybody stepped up and made it happen. And you know, you said earlier, it’s a relationship business. And it really is. And it is with every aspect of the business. If you have good relationships, and you cultivate those relationships, you can get a lot done. And even in really hard times people will step up and do amazing things. And we were able to clear all the roadblocks and everybody did their part. And you know, the way we got a bunch of things on the punch list done really quickly. You know, they kind of get us across the goal long. And that’s amazing story. And amazing story, middle of all that. And you know, and since we both were the first ones to open there, and now some of the other tenants are opening as well. And hopefully soon, it’ll all be open for me. You know, I’m excited about it.
Jones 22:40
Despite the fact that we were in a pandemic, there’s a community there that needs to sleep, right. I mean, you all we hear you talking about how on social media, you hear about sleep constantly, what I’ve been seeing and experiencing is people aren’t sleeping right now. And so as things start opening, there’s a community in Woodbridge that there’s demand there, and they they are looking for a bed, they’re ready to start sleeping in there ready to start getting back to normal. So we owe it to the community as well. And the customers.
Ressa 23:05
I hadn’t looked at it like that, you know, Tracy, when, when everyone was shut down, the you know, from a marketing perspective, how much for you guys like focused on pushing like, brand and just talking to consumers digitally versus like, having promotions of, you know, buy this bed at 10% off or whatever it might be?
Jones 23:31
You know, we did both, we let people know that we were still there, our stores were shut down. But our website was still open. And despite the fact that retail operations weren’t allowed to continue, you still sleep every night, and you still have bedding needs. And you know, there’s still again, there’s people who weren’t sleeping, and they that’s not good. You need to be able to sleep to be able to keep your immune system up and running, especially in a pandemic. And so we wanted people to know that, hey, we’re still here for you. We’ll we’ll take care of it. Our delivery teams, we’re still delivering. And we made sure that the awareness was there. And we did we saw a huge surge in our traffic and the number of people who decided before Okay, well, I’m not gonna buy online because I want to be able to see and touch and feel we saw people say, okay, things have changed and now I will buy online because I need it or I will buy online because I don’t feel comfortable going into a store. And you know, given our selection and our prices and our one year price guarantee, making sure that people know that it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to wait until things open back up that we’re gonna be here for you and you’re gonna get the best price guaranteed or, you know, we’ll refund the difference. So we just made people feel comfortable and confident and know that we’re there for them no matter what they need, or what Presley price label price level.
Ressa 24:51
That’s amazing. And, and so, you know, Bill mentioned that you not only had to reopen all your stores at the same time you were open Make a new one. How was your team thinking about marketing to that community? Like through all this? And what what did you guys do to do that?
Jones 25:08
The biggest thing was letting people know we are open, we’re ready for you. We’re excited. And as we mentioned earlier, that clean shop promise that was at the core of everything that we did, and everything that we continue to do, making sure that people feel comfortable coming into our stores, knowing that we have their best best interests at heart and that they are going to be protected through the variety of measures that Bill mentioned earlier, that was the strongest message that we had. And while price was important, and people are always looking for a deal, right now, they want to feel safe before anything else.
Ressa 25:41
And why don’t you tell everybody what is the clean shop promise that you guys have?
Jones 25:46
It includes extensive cleaning measures, you know, everything is extensively sanitized, you know, whether it’s the pen that you’re using, before it gets handed over to you that pen gets wiped down, the bed match diagnostic system that gets wiped down, there is a disposable cover on all of the mattresses and the pillow. So there’s a protective barrier between you and the product that you’re lying on without changing or impacting the feel of the mattress. You know, all the door handles are wiped down. And as Bill mentioned, also, the big one of the big things is the ability to book that private appointment. So, you know, if you don’t feel comfortable being in there with a couple of other people, let us know. And we will make sure that we open our store to you at a time when there’s nobody else available. And our customers have really responded well to that. And I think just in general, the fact that we are taking their concerns and their safety seriously, has really, really proved to be successful for us. The private
Ressa 26:45
appointment thing is fascinating to me, that is a really interesting new retailing concept. You mentioned that a lot of people are taking that. How much of a burden is that been operationally to manage through
Papettas 27:02
it? It’s a challenge, right? This isn’t your, you know, retail people, you schedule your team, they they’re going to be in the store certain amount of hours. We were very upfront with our team when we came back. And you know, every time we brought more stores online, we did resume quality the entire team and talk to them say hey, here, the business has changed. It’s we are now everything is different, right? We were in March, we started shutting things down as different government agencies said to shut down. And we’ve had to figure out how we’re going to come out of this different and how we’re going to come out of this and be able to, you know, continue doing what we’ve done for the last 30 years. And one of the things that we got, it was interesting, we were shut down the amount of customers that were emailing and saying, Hey, when are you opening back up? Can I get in by myself? Can I do that. And like I said earlier, you got to listen to your consumers listen to your customers. And one of the things that I do is I actually get all the emails that customers send in good, bad or indifferent, I see them. And I think that’s important because I want to have my ear to the ground on what they’re telling us, right? Because we could think things are great, but you could have a storm coming. And I want to hear what they’re saying. But they were asking us for you know, hey, I know you’re shut down. But can I come in? I know you’re shut down? Can somebody come and see me by myself? And or can you let me know as soon as you open so I can come in? And they’re asking. So that kind of was where we started with this, I think we need to do appointments like people are asking for this. And then we had to figure out right now we have a retail team that thinks they’re going to be scheduled from, you know, 11 to seven because we’re doing reduced hours for extra cleaning. But now we have this this wildcard of appointments that could be outside those hours. So we had to talk to our team about how important it was that we offer this service to customers. And you know, you may have to come in a couple hours early earlier than you were scheduled and work a few extra hours. But on the plus side, we’re going to be doing things that people want us to do. And it’s a service that customers are going to need that they’re showing us they want. And we immediately started seeing, wow, he’s reacted well, and they’ve been like, you know what this is, this is the right thing to do. And, you know, the team fully supported it, which makes it easier because while you have operational hurdles, if the team supports it, and the team knows how important it is and they understand it. You know, they’ll figure out ways to overcome the hurdles. Sure. We’re really proud of the team here, which they’ve done that.
Ressa 29:54
Yeah, that’s a good point and, you know, communicating to the team, the importance Having the team buy into the vision. And if they do, then they, then they definitely solve problems that is, you know, a core principle I believe in for sure. Well listen to this was a great story and great insights on, you know, operating in a pandemic and post pandemic. Just the fact opening up a new store at the same time you were reopening 283 stores, I don’t think a lot of retailers in the United States did that. And that was really, you know, cool to hear. And great to understand how you all did that. And the commitment to growth, even able to be able to see through that challenging time and keep going, not easy to do. Kudos to you all for doing that. The last part of the show, I have three questions for both of you. And tell me when you’re ready. Tracy, I’m going to switch this up, I’m going to the normal three questions are your best piece of commercial real estate advice. They are extinct retailer, you wish you’d come back from the dead. And I’m going to give you a retail product, you give me the retail price, but we’re gonna switch one up for you give us your best piece of marketing advice.
Jones 31:17
My best piece of marketing advice is to remember what marketing is. I remember what you know, when I graduated college, I was like, I’m gonna go do marketing. And then I realized I had no idea what that really meant. And so if you can keep in mind that marketing is relevant messages to people who care and the way they want to hear them. You’re great. You know, I could sit there all day long and get ads for a ski lift. I don’t ski not very coordinated me that be completely irrelevant to me. But you offer me a ski lodge. I mean, I can ski lodge with the best of them. I’ll sit there with a glass of wine all day long. So just remember who your audience is. And remember relevant messages to people who care and you’ll do fine.
Ressa 32:00
Great marketing advice. Bill, what is your best piece of commercial real estate advice?
Papettas 32:10
It’s probably the oldest piece of real estate advice, right? It’s Location, location, location. It’s how many cars are driving by it’s who’s gonna be in there with you. It’s, you know, how does the center function? You know, getting on the ground and go in there and see it? Yeah, piece of dirt right? Before it goes anywhere? And then what’s the vision for it? What is it going to be when it’s done? And sometimes it’s hard to get a lot of things pitched pitched at you, right? It’s like, hey, this will be great. This will be great this week, right? But they’re not all great. Right? So you got to get out there and look at it. And you got to be able to go and get a feel for the community. You know, if you’re gonna go in there, what are you going to do that’s going to make you successful? Make the store contribute? And a lot of that is about getting them right. It’s about seeing for yourself and knowing what’s happening.
Ressa 33:06
Totally. All right, Tracy. What extinct retailer Do you wish would come back from the dead?
Jones 33:14
I miss you guys remember KB Toys? Sure. My dating myself? Like the small toy store like not Toys R Us not as they assure it’s like the small hometown toy store where you can just go and play and see things and pick them up. And you know, before you go and buy them. And I feel like that’s lost today. Like when we buy everything online. And you well, it also feels like kids don’t play with toys as much as they did when when we were young. But I miss like the wonder of going into a toy store and seeing like this magic world of stuff that was on your wish list. And then, you know, keeping your fingers crossed the sandpaper actually brought it for you. So
Ressa 33:58
hopefully Santa brought you everything you ever wanted. Always. No call for you, Tracy? Nope. Only for me. Bill, what extinct retailer, do you wish would come back from the dead? And I’m interested from this someone who runs a retail company. I’m interested in this and how you look at retailers across the world.
Papettas 34:20
Yeah, so this one is almost extinct. At this point, I don’t know if they’d be able to do it with RadioShack. You know, at one point they were one of the fastest growing retailers in the country 5500 locations at one point. And I think that in today’s environment, they’d be in a really good position, because everything’s gotten really small. Right? Everything’s gotten really small electronics. And it’s almost like they need to skip a decade and they You’ve been okay. Yeah. But you know, everything went really small or you didn’t need a lot of space. And, you know, when everything that consumers are buying in the consumer electronics world are now you know, you can hold in the palm of your hand, and think about how many devices the cell phone, the iPhone, killed off, right cameras, video recorders, you know, you don’t need that much space to have a great experience, and having people that are really, really knowledgeable and can take time and, you know, help you with the stuff. And I’d spent 19 years there through a lot of growth with them. And, you know, I think that in today’s world, people being home, the new generation has been really curious, you know, your gen Z’s and, you know, they like putting stuff together and building stuff and breaking barriers and figuring out how to do things. You know, I think they missed the mark by decade. And, you know, a reboot right now, with today’s consumers and today’s products and what’s hot in the marketplace and doing things like helping people put together, you know, computers or holding classes on teaching people how to code and there’s so many things they can be doing those spaces that we really cool today. We’d love to see them come back and figure it out.
Ressa 36:19
Yeah, it’s a great point there. Were there, you know, with all the add ons to the phone and like the tripods and little, you know, cameras and selfie sticks. And then the whole service part of like you mentioned in teaching code, ninjas and all that they could have really done something. You’re right. And you had spent a lot of years there. And so yeah, it’s a good perspective. I hadn’t no one said that on this show before but it’s an interesting one, especially given now. So great answer. Thank you. Last question, can ask you both the same question. So I have a three year old daughter. We’re making her room of Princess themed room, Disney, Disney. And we just got her the Disney Princess paper cut bed set. I’m on Amazon’s website. What does the Disney Princess paper cut Bed Set? This is like sheets and comforter. Retail for on Amazon’s website. What size 20 Whatever the crib, the crib to the convertible thing that we got
Jones 37:33
3999
Ressa 37:35
Okay, Bill. Oh, Bill, you’re very close. It’s $64 Thank you for playing everybody. Appreciate it. That was awesome. Well, listen, Tracy bill, this has been great. Thanks for coming on. You guys were awesome. wish nothing but the best for you all and you know, keep selling mattresses through this. Your story is really inspiring through the pandemic. So thanks for coming on and sharing it with everyone. Thank you.
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