Ashley adds SierraSleep line for independent retailers
There’s a new “S” brand on the bedding stage. And it’s brought to you by the “A” brand: Ashley Furniture Inds.
There’s a new “S” brand on the bedding stage. And it’s brought to you by the “A” brand: Ashley Furniture Inds.
SierraSleep is the name of the new mattress line successfully launched by Ashley at the Las Vegas Market earlier this year, and which will make its High Point debut at the spring market there.
And there is a new leader of the Ashley bedding program: Ashley veteran Brad Rogers. He’s the senior vice president of the Ashley Sleep/Sierra Sleep division.
“We are the new ‘S’ in town,” Rogers said of SierraSleep, a line that is targeted to independent bedding retailers. The line consists of memory foam, gel foam and innerspring models, with innerspring retails ranging from $299 to $899 and gel topping out at $1,999.
The Ashley Furniture HomeStores, the nation’s largest home furnishings retailer, will carry the Ashley Sleep line, as will the sleep shops in the company’s sleep shop program, which the company is revamping after the initial program introduced last year failed to meet expectations.
“We will have a strong sleep shop program in place,” Rogers said. “That is being reviewed right now.”
In its new bedding distribution strategy, Ashley will use its Ashley Sleep line to give its HomeStores and sleep shops an exclusive line, and it will use the SierraSleep brand to give the many independent retailers it serves their exclusive Ashley-produced bedding line.
Ashley is currently producing innerspring bedding at its plants in Verona, Miss., and Colton, Calif., and has plans to add more facilities, Rogers said. The specialty sleep beds are produced in China.
The SierraSleep line got off to a strong start at the Las Vegas Market in January. “We had a tremendous market with a lot of positive comments,” Rogers said.
Ashley also revamped its Ashley Sleep models retailing from $399 to $1,499. “We felt we could be a little stronger and offer stronger values at every price point,” he said. Innerspring and hybrid models were included in the revamped offerings.
Rogers, who spent 20 years at Serta before joining Ashley several years ago, said Ron and Todd Wanek, Ashley’s top executives, are serious about growing the company’s bedding program.
“The Waneks are committed to the bedding business,” he said.