SLEEP LIKE A BEAR: Hoboken-Based Bear Mattress Invigorated By Success Of Innovative Sleep Products

Hoboken resident Scott Paladini is the CEO and founder of Bear, a direct-to-consumer retailer of mattresses, pillows and sleep accessories constructed to promote faster recovery and a better sleep
using the latest advancements in sleep technology.

Headquartered in the Monroe Center (720 Monroe Street), Paladini manages a growing team of 12 industry experts and oversees the day-to-day operations and strategic vision for Bear. His efforts have helped develop Bear into one of the fastest growing direct-to-consumer brands in the sleep space.

Launched after nearly a year of product development and testing, Paladini navigated Bear past the seven-figure revenue mark during its first year in business, garnering interest from professional athletes and media alike.

Today, Bear ranks among the nation’s top ten e-commerce mattress brands.

Paladini worked in finance before opening a brick-and-mortar mattress store in 2012, which he sold in 2017 to focus all of his efforts on Bear). He currently resides in Hoboken, with his wife and two young sons. In his spare time, he mentors budding entrepreneurs as an instructor of business skills at General Assembly. Paladini has been interviewed by numerous media outlets—including CNBC, Forbes, The Associated Press, NJBIZ, Cheddar and Inc. Most recently his business story was highlighted in the book The Million-Dollar One-Person Business (2018).

He recently shared his insight with hMAG.

hMAG: How does Bear Mattress stack up against other mattresses? What makes it such a good value?

Scott Paladini: The Bear Mattress is made of proprietary foam layers, which, combined with graphite gel foam and FDA-determined Celliant technology, offer an unrivaled sleep for under $1,000. But don’t take my word for it, consumer reviews speak for themselves; Bear Mattress currently has over 5,000 five-star reviews (and counting).

Utilizing eco-friendly materials and the latest advancements in sleep technology, the Bear Mattress is designed specifically for recovery, cooling and comfort. Additionally, we recently launched a new mattress, the Bear Hybrid which offers a more traditional, luxury feel and has a combination of springs and foam.

Bear’s entire product assortment has quickly become the brand of choice for professional athletes, weekend warriors and casual fitness lovers alike. We have over 100 professional athletes from every major sports league in the US plus endurance, adventure and cross-fit athletes.

h: How has the science of sleep impacted the bedroom furnishing industry?

SP: Thirty years ago, the industry was not paying attention to how a mattress alone affects your day. Sure, a great sleep has endless proven benefits, but consumers deserve more than just a mattress they can sleep on. The rise in technology has allowed the mattress industry to offer features that cater to consumers’ lifestyles directly. For example, Bear is specifically designed for recovery, cooling and comfort.

Our mattresses incorporate Celliant FDA-Determined Infrared Yarn Technology which promotes faster recovery, increased energy and a more restful sleep. This is just one example of what we are doing as a company to make our products stand out.

h: Bear Mattress seems to be doing quite well. What sort of growth are you seeing, and to what can you attribute that success?

SP: I launched Bear in Monroe Center in 2014. For years I ran a brick and mortar mattress store in Bernardsville and had planned to expand that to Hoboken. I noticed more and more that technology in the mattress space was changing, and consumer purchasing behaviors were gravitating online. I created Bear in 2014 and spent a year doing product development and research, before officially launching the namesake Bear Mattress in September 2015. Since its launch, Bear has grown consistently month-over-month.

I think most of the success comes from our high-quality products combined with superior customer service. Our customers have helped make us successful and the best we can do for them is to continue to make great products and be there for them. We have seven day a week customer service and all our CS people are employees, it’s not an outsourced company, so there is such a level of caring that you don’t always get with consumer companies these days.

h: Has the Hoboken location helped with the company’s exposure? Are you seeing much foot traffic at the Monroe Center location?

SP: I think Hoboken has been great for our business. It’s helped us attract some really good people that have joined the team over the past year, plus it’s allowed us to give customers a chance to try out the mattress.

Our Monroe Center location has always been open to the public and it doubles as our team’s office. We’ve recently renovated the showroom, and all of our products are available for customers to try. We also do keep some stock at our showroom so people can take home their mattress or pillows the same day.

We recently partnered with Macy’s and opened a showroom in Seattle, this was mainly due to the success we were seeing with our Hoboken showroom.

h: Aside from a quality mattress, what helps you sleep easily at night?

Being a new dad and a business owner is enough to keep anyone up at night, however, I try to relax knowing that we have a really good team and company. Last year, we were able to donate over $100,000 to our charity partner, Good Sports, which helped launched a girls youth soccer league in Jersey City. Things like that make it a little easier to sleep every night.

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