Mattress by Appointment opens in Milton
Matt Hershey recently moved to Lewes full time, and he hopes the business he brought with him will help Sussex County residents sleep better at night.
Hershey is the owner and operator of Mattress by Appointment in Milton, a franchise that offers mattresses of all sizes and brands at wholesale prices.
“It's not your typical franchise,” he said. “We don't have the overhead. The idea behind this is it's owner operated, and it's by appointment so we can control our day and give the convenience to the customer to set up their day to come in when they want to.”
With no flashy retail space or paid advertising, Hershey and other Mattress by Appointment operators keep costs low. The name is the game – there are no store hours for the business; instead, customers call Hershey on his cellphone or shoot him a message through social media and set up a time that works with their schedule.
“It's a little bit of a different model than most people are used to,” he said. “You go see a doctor, an attorney, a dentist, by appointment. But really it's about controlling the day. And people don't have to feel inundated by salespeople.”
Hershey, of Lancaster, Pa., said he jumped on board with the South Carolina-based company after realizing his time was becoming far more valuable than money. The 51-year-old father of six spent three decades working 70 to 80 hours a week for car dealerships before realizing he was ready to slow down.
Hershey and his wife, Sheila, researched the company for about a year before they opened their first Mattress by Appointment store in Manheim, Pa., in summer 2015. The business took off.
“Most people are shell-shocked when they go into a store and see a $2,500 or $1,800 mattress set. Middle-class America today doesn't want to spend $4,000 on a mattress set,” he said. “Our sweet spot, as far as what customers want, is $300 to $800. But our $800 mattress set is probably $1,800 in the store.”
Now Hershey's wife and son, Nicholas, run the store in Pennsylvania, while Hershey takes the reins on the new Milton location. For now, he and his wife will be weekend warriors, he said, as his high school sweetheart stays in Pennsylvania until their youngest graduates from high school.
“You want more time than working hours – everybody's chasing that dream,” he said. “I have a saying with my kids, 'If it is to be, then it's up to me.' That's kind of where our family philosophy goes, and while they get tired of my cliches, it's true.”
The mattress warehouse is behind the Food Lion in Milton, and offers everything from simple twin bed sets for about $150 to more expensive memory foam mattresses. For more, call Hershey at 302-430-6288 or go to facebook.com/MBAMilton.
