One year after the opening of BIA West in Rialto, California, Bedding Industries of America is now servicing more than 100 new dealers and recently hired four new sales representatives and 105 employees.
The 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, showroom and distribution center, which opened in August 2021, services retailers in California, Arizona and Nevada. Most significant for BIA is the growth of its legacy brands — Eclipse, Eastman House, Natural Dreams and Saatva — now that it has a direct presence on the West Coast.
“Our team in Rialto has done a really impressive job of launching a plant from scratch and then building a strong business in a relatively short period of time,” said Stuart Carlitz, president and chief executive officer of BIA. “We have always believed there was a greater opportunity for the growth of our brands in California, which has proven itself this past year. Based on the tremendous growth of our customer base throughout California, we felt it was best to open our own facility to satisfy the demand.”
Jared Carlitz rejoined the family business last year as chief operating officer, responsible for managing West Coast operations. He was accompanied by Mike Moore, director of sales and new business development, and Mike Mulligan, director of operations and manufacturing. Moore is a mattress industry sales veteran, and Mulligan is a veteran manufacturing leader who has run facilities for several major brands.
The team is additionally supported by Philip Carlitz, who is BIA’s chief revenue officer and runs BIA Midwest in Chicago, and Steve Sciortino, BIA’s chief financial officer who leads operations at the company’s New Brunswick, New Jersey, headquarters.
“It has been a really rewarding first year for the West Coast operation. We have an amazing management team — the brain trust of the operation and a really committed and dedicated team of associates who make the finest products for our customers every day,” said Jared Carlitz. “What we have seen in the business is a real emphasis on satisfying regional proclivities for our products. National companies try to push one-size-fits-all SKUs to their dealers, but we have taken a different approach. We can manufacture to the regional needs of dealers, which has made them embrace our offerings.”
