Yawnder — Attraction in Encinitas

Like many shoppers, we were overwhelmed with the number and type of mattresses on the market now. We hadn't purchased a mattress in 22 years, so all of the new materials and ways to buy had us overwhelmed. The mattress game is a whole new model now--there are many more interesting and affordable choices online, but we were hesitant to take a a chance based solely on reading reviews and descriptions. To us, a mattress is a big purchase. We wanted to try the mattress before buying, but how do to that when some of the best mattresses sell only online. We visited two retail stores in our area to try a hybrid and a memory foam of high quality (and high price.) But it was impossible to do side-by-side comparisons.

A friend recommended Sleep Sherpa, a large, airy shop in Chicago who has top-rated online brands in the showroom to try. This was exactly what we wanted--to be able to include online brands in our decision, but to try the mattresses too. Brands include Avocado, Purple, Lytton, PuffyLux, Tuft and Needle, and many others that consistently show up in top ratings. The prices are in line with online prices, which you'll find are much lower than going to mattress stores for more traditional mattress shopping.

We visited yesterday and had a great experience. Glenn was friendly, knowledgeable, and no pressure. You'll be "buzzed in." We were the only customers in the store on a midday, Monday. Sanitation stations were set up and masks are required. Glenn provided us with sanitary covers to be able to try mattresses with pillows (important!)

You'll start with the "Goldilocks test." He'll help you determine the "type" of mattress you like best (without seeing brand or price.) This will help you eliminate those that don't match your preferences for firmness and feel. Then you'll sample different mattresses that best meet your narrowed down preferences. You will first identify your best fit based purely on experience--not on brand marketing, not on price, just on feel.

Once we further narrowed down our preferences, Glenn shared the pros and cons of materials, brands, and prices. He had a great understanding of what would work best for us based on our needs. It was a no-pressure and positive experience.

We discovered we preferred a hybrid. You may discover you like the feel of the memory foam-topped mattresses. Whether you sleep alone or with a partner, your size, your sleep position, age, health needs, price range will all factor into the purchase. Being able to test run the differences helped us "get over" the fear of purchasing a newer mattress brand. We purchased a Lytton Sleep mattress that day. It will be delivered in a few weeks. (Glenn was able to beat the online prices I found too.) We were close to spending two and a half times more for a mattress from a retail store. So we are happy to have found Sleep Sherpa and benefit from Glenn's guidance.

Like most online mattresses, the one we chose comes with a 100-day return policy. This is important as time on the mattress will confirm whether or not the choice was still a good one.

We recommend Sleep Sherpa for those who want to go with an online brand (for better prices and high-rated mattresses) but who are wary of buying and trying without testing first. You'll be in good...

We walked in to the Sleep Sherpa store on a Sunday at around 4 pm, and we had our beds delivered and assembled by next weekend!

There are two fantastic things about this particular store: Glenn, the manager, as well as the concept of the store. We had done very little research (read: zero), and when we walked in, we thought it might take us like weeks of research. With Glenn's help, we quickly realized that: (a) some mattresses are JUST not for us, and (b) out of the remaining mattresses, the differences are small, and are going to come down to the experience. With a 100 day, or 365 day return, we figured that it would make no difference picking between a 95 and a 96 (out of a 100)!

We learned two key things: (1) we can get an adjustable bed base. Who knew? and (2) we can play around with the configurations. Originally we were going to go for 1 King bed base and 1 King mattress. But eventually, we decided to get 2 Twin XLs in each. Although this is a more expensive option, we do have the possibility of adjusting our beds independently. Given that one of us sleeps with head tilted much higher, and the other prefers as flat as possible, this was a good decision.

For us to be able to go from 4 pm Sunday visit to sleeping on the new bed in just 6 days, we owe our appreciation to Glenn at Sleep Sherpa. He was very prompt in guiding us to the process, and what to buy, and then figuring out the details so that we can get all the details arranged. We live in a condo, and delivery window is small, esp on a Sat (and smaller during COVID times).

And Glenn is a true professional, returning our e-mails at any time of the day, on all days. I say: Glenn should take a little time off from the phone, but I am sure his customers like us appreciate the prompt treatment.

Sadly, we won't be needing a bed in the next, oh, 10 years, but will always be happy to stop by to say hi when we are around 415 W Huron.

And yes, the concept of Sleep Sherpa is great. Online mattress companies have mushroomed, and it is hard to say which mattress you might like. So because Sleep Sherpa has most of them in inventory, you can stop by, test it out, and order through them. Sleep Sherpa affiliate price is as good, or better, than what you can find online, and it is providing a very valuable service in the age of internet, when everything gets delivered.

So, I encourage everyone to patronize Sleep Sherpa, because: (A) you are getting a fantastic service from Glenn, (B) you are getting a fantastic value out of the Sleep Sherpa concept, and (C) you are getting the best price on the internet.

Supporting local businesses in this age of internet is...

If you're looking for a better way to shop for a mattress, Yawnder is the perfect solution. After visiting the usual mattress stores we only saw the major legacy brands like Simmons, Sealy, Tempurpedic, and a couple of the online brands, used mostly to upsell us to the other more expensive brands.

The other option is to buy online any of the newer brands and hope for the best. But mattresses vary so widely, it's a real hassle to find the best one by ordering without trying and returning successive times, especially after you've gotten rid of your old mattress. Yawnder solves this conundrum brilliantly. They have most of the newer brands available online to try and compare in one place.

My wife and I visited Yawnder and were able to try the ones we were interested in from reading Consumers Report, Wirecutter, Wired, the ads, and the many paid review sites that, of course, disagreed with each other.

We discovered the mattresses felt very different in person from their descriptions. One company's firm was softer than another company's medium. Some sagged at the edge, while others were too bouncy. We really needed to try them in person. Luckily, this one visit to Yawnder allowed us to try and compare all the models of a dozen or more brands.

We were helped by Billie, who was very knowledgeable and applied no pressure at all. She just explained each one objectively and never pushed one brand over another. Buying our mattress came down to trying them at our pace for over an hour. Pricing was as good or better than online. (see below).

Our mattress was delivered about 10 days after ordering by very two very capable individuals. They set everything up, including the remotes, adjusted the bed height to our liking and removed all of the cartons and the old mattress at no charge and took our old frame and box spring for a small charge.

A few days later I noticed the mattresses we bought on Amazon advertised by the manufacturer (Helix) for about $270 less than Yawnder's selling price. Even though Yawnder had also provided their own store discount of $290, making our net cost $20 less than Amazon, Yawnder said their price guarantee applies to the advertised price of the mattress without their extra discount, and insisted on giving us a refund of $270!

This was truly an amazing experience in every way. My wife and I feel we lucked out by finding an easy way to try out all the mattresses before buying, experiencing an educational, no-pressure sales process, getting timely white glove delivery, and paying less than anyplace else. San Diego is lucky to have such a unique store...