Mattress shopping: The saga continues

Thanks to everyone's awesome advice, Josh and I felt knowledgeable and ready for the big day Saturday.

Our plan was to go to Rockville and not buy anything until we'd tried several mattresses at a few different stores.

First stop was Sleepy's, which, as it turned out, was the best possible place to start our search.

Our salesperson had us do a diagnostic test by lying on a special bed that measured our weight, skeletal structure, pressure points, etc. to determine the ideal mattress firmness for each of us. As it turns out, we both require a fairly soft bed (Josh needs something slightly firmer, I require something slightly softer). Our salesperson then guided us toward several different beds in the store, giving us plenty of time to try them out. He wasn't pushy at all, and he took plenty of time to answer questions and educate us on the differences between each kind of bed. He highly recommended a Dr. Breus model, one of a series of mattresses designed by a sleep doctor. After trying several options, it was our favorite of the bunch, by far. We told him we needed to get some lunch, but we'd probably be back. He told us if we brought him our lunch receipt, he'd deduct the cost of our lunch from the price of our mattress (smart salesmanship!). Plus, that day they were having a home show in Richmond with a special deal we could take advantage of - for the price of the bed, we'd also get the frame, two pillows and a hypoallergenic mattress case. We were tempted, but decided to move on.

Our second stop was Mattress Discounters. This was the low point of our experience. The salesperson was way too intense and tried to rush us to a decision. When we explained what we didn't like about a mattress, he tried to explain why we were wrong, instead of taking our feedback and steering us toward another option. When we told him we were going to check out another store, because the guide we read said you should try a few stores when you go mattress shopping, he said, "Whoever wrote that should be fired." "You want to fire Consumer Reports?" I replied. I ended up having to make up an excuse to get us out of there because he was bullying us too much.

Finally, we ended up at Bloomingdale's. Our salesperson, Alona, was relaxed and friendly, patiently waiting while we tried each of the mattresses she pointed us to. We fell in love with an Aireloom model, which was available for about 65% off the list price. We felt confident in buying it, because Bloomingdale's has an insane guarantee. If you're unhappy with the mattress within 6 months of buying it, they'll buy it back for 90% of what you paid. If you're unhappy within 5 years, they will buy it back for 50% of what you paid.  So with that peace of mind, we sealed the deal. The only downside is that the mattress won't be delivered until Saturday...which is why this entry is titled "The saga continues" as opposed to "The conclusion."

Thanks again to everyone for your ideas and feedback. It served us well, and we feel confident we spent an adequate amount of time and made the right decision. We can't wait for our new bed to be delivered!