At a Glance
Company MurMaid Mattress Corp.
Mission MurMaid Mattress Corp. is a home furnishings company dedicated to growth through the application of principle-centered leadership
Headquarters and production facility Cleveland, Tennessee, a suburb of Chattanooga
Retail stores 10 sites in Chattanooga, Cleveland, Hixson, and Red Bank, Tennessee, and Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
Processes Quilting, tape edge, building
Specialty Premium and custom mattresses
History Founded in 1979
Ownership Founded and owned by the Pickett family, now transitioning to the third generation
Learn more murmaid.com
In a changing industry, with new players appealing to digital-age customers, third-generation MurMaidMattress competes by committing to quality and burnishing its locally recognized brand name.
From its origins in wholesale and mass-market mattresses, MurMaid Mattress has evolved into a manufacturer and retailer of its own factory-direct premium mattresses, alongside national lines. “We have many, many repeat customers, and we have many, many referral customers,” MurMaid Mattress Corp. owner Roger Pickett says. “That’s our claim to fame.”
From furniture to mattresses
Pickett’s mother and stepfather, Joy and Elmer Murray, started the business in 1979 in the Tennessee Valley. The name, MurMaid Mattress, is a playful take on the words “made by Murray.” Elmer had been in the furniture business but noticed the high volume of mattress sales, so he bought a simple tape-edge machine and began producing wholesale mattresses for motels, incorporating high-quality materials into the same mattress design as national brands.
Pickett worked briefly for his parents after graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1983. From there, he joined a major, high-traffic furniture retailer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for five years. “That’s where, in my opinion, I got my master’s degree in retail,” he says.
That’s also where a Sealy rep, knowing that Pickett’s family was producing mattresses, recommended that he learn how a Knoxville factory-direct mattress company marketed to the public. So, when Pickett rejoined the family business in 1989, he began to transform it into a factory-direct business model. As he learned more about the industry, Pickett discovered the International Sleep Products Association and attended its biannual factory-direct trade shows, a highlight in the era of locally made mattresses.
“We have many, many
repeat customers, and we have many, many referral customers. That’s our claim to fame.”—Roger Pickett, owner, MurMaid Mattress
Around 1999, MurMaid’s retail side transformed even further, gaining its first national vendor when Tempur-Pedic began augmenting its marketing strategy, rooted in a heavily advertised 1-800 phone number, by selling their products in stores. With Tempur-Pedic in the MurMaid stores, sales climbed, “and we didn’t even have to market it,” Pickett says. “Back then, they had such a presence on television. We just put banners out in front of the store saying we now carry Tempur-Pedic, and people would stop in just out of curiosity.”
From then to now
Today, MurMaid showrooms carry the MurMaid line plus Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic, and Sealy. That side-by-side exposure to national retailers has prompted the factory side to ramp up its volume and emulate emerging trends and styles. “It upped our game at retail, so we really got a benefit out of it,” Pickett says. “We’re just trying to keep up with the big guys. Whatever they can do, we want to do it or do it better.”
Another key driver in MurMaid’s evolution has been the current mattress retailing climate and the expansion of online sales. Noticing that bed-in-a-box and warehouse sellers were consuming the low-end, secondary segment of the market, MurMaid stepped into the high end, leading the factory to produce—and eventually specialize in—premier products for primary bedrooms.
With the shift from mass-market merchandise to more complex premium products, MurMaid’s daily production shrank from 60 pieces a day to about 40. The complete and agile production line is also capable of producing custom-built mattresses for such unique uses as antique beds, recreational vehicles, or for boaters floating their crafts on the Tennessee River. Recently, it has also experienced a full-circle moment through an uptick in the hospitality trade, with its mattresses in several Chattanooga hotels.
MurMaid’s lines include twin, full, queen, and king sizes in innerspring, foam, and hybrid models. Accessories offered include pillows and toppers made by MurMaid and other manufacturers. The brand array of sheets and mattress protectors include MurMaid private-label items, made by Slumber Shield. Private-label adjustable bases, made by Ergomotion, are named after Pickett’s grandsons, Hayes, Mason, and Hudson, and an additional private-label latex mattress, made by Sherwood, is named after his granddaughter, Maeve.
In its retail stores and online, MurMaid avoids competing with its other vendors by carrying only their mid-tier products and, Pickett adds, by “really taking care of our customers. We’ve been around long enough and do a volume big enough that we can afford to take care of them in a responsible way, as far as honoring warranties and replacing product that might need to be replaced.”
A former MurMaid brand slogan—“A better mattress at a better price”—still holds true, Pickett says. When customer-service calls reveal a problem, the MurMaid team investigates and buys improved components to resolve the issue in production. Its commitment to quality shows in premium supplies that meet or exceed industry standards, such as better-density foams and topline innerspring units. The company also offers a 100-night money-back guarantee and, with the purchase of a mattress protector, a 365-night comfort guarantee.
Factory made
MurMaid’s 25,000-square-foot factory is equipped with the same machines used by national brands “but on a much smaller scale,” Pickett says—two quilters, two tape edge machines, and two builders. Strong supplier relationships also help deliver more value through the exchange of ideas and technology.
MurMaid moved operations to its Cleveland, Tennessee, production facility, about 30 miles from Chattanooga, in 2000. The company employs about 39 people today—16 in the factory, about six delivery drivers, and the rest in retail. Many are longtime employees, including a sales manager who started in the factory at age 19.
“We’ve got a very good, stable staff that we’re really proud to have,” Pickett says. He attributes the team-oriented culture to the company’s fair and supportive family atmosphere. “I think they feel it’s a good, safe environment to come to work,” he says.
“We’re just trying to keep up with the big guys. Whatever
they can do, we want to do it or do it better.”—Roger Pickett
Community involvement is a core MurMaid value. Pickett has chaired the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, serves on the board of a local nonprofit medical and dental facility, and is active in his church. Local sports teams bear the MurMaid name on their jerseys. Teachers receiving an annual service award in the county and city school systems win MurMaid adjustable bedding sets in the size of their choice.
Staying connected
The COVID-19 years brought a sales surge, then a downside from diminishing future demand, but MurMaid has continued to sustain its advertising and marketplace presence. From 17 retail locations at its peak, the company is down to 10 today, but volume is unchanged. The goal for 2026 is to return to the COVID-19-era sales peaks.
Now with a slogan of “Family owned and locally made since 1979,” MurMaid’s local commitment keeps its connections to longtime residents intact while building name recognition among the growing region’s newer, younger residents. MurMaid’s online sales are in their infancy but under development, stepping up to join brick-and-mortar sales.
Adaptive strategies are designed to ensure MurMaid’s survival decades into the future of a changing industry, including a drive to educate consumers about the difference that quality makes, Pickett says.
Meanwhile, the company’s marketing also has adapted to changing times, moving away from print and radio while retaining television and adding social media, carefully calibrated to reach target audiences. Commercials feature Pickett’s daughter, grandchildren, and—“very reluctantly”—Pickett himself. “We’ve evolved more in marketing than we’ve evolved in manufacturing, I think,” he says.
Visitors to the MurMaid website encounter, first, the pop-up MurMaid Fit Quiz, offering customized mattress recommendations based on preferred comfort level, age of current mattress, sleep partner, body type—ranging from “Somebody get me a biscuit” to “Lots to love”—number of birthday candles, budget, and hot or cool sleeper.
Among the aforementioned changes, MurMaid’s second-generation family ownership is transitioning to the third. Pickett’s daughter and son-in-law, Kristen and Taylor Davis, are in the third year of a 10-year plan, learning the ropes as they prepare to take over the business upon the retirement of Pickett and his wife, Cindy, who works in accounting.
As Kristen conducts marketing and Taylor helps run the factory, the plan’s first five years are concentrating on “just learning to work together, making sure they still like me and love me,” Pickett jokes. The second five years will focus on transitioning ownership.
Even amid a changing industry and growing region, MurMaid Mattress sustains its commitment to quality products and community service.
“We see ourselves as another retailer that happens to own one of our vendors,” Pickett says. “We have been fortunate to be a good retailer in our marketplace.”
Faces of the Company
MurMaid’s dynamic website includes profiles of store managers and sales consultants—the faces of the company to Chattanoogans. Each profile lists the store where they work and their years of service to the company.
The profiles also ask, “What do you like the most about your job?” The answers include the difference that salespeople feel they are making, helping customers “find the perfect comfort” or “improve their lives through their quality of sleep.”
“I like helping customers improve their quality of sleep and to hopefully make the sales selection painless,” says one store manager. “But I LOVE my job because of MurMaid’s integrity. It shows every single day to the employees, customers, and the community.”
