Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Mattress Industry Veterans Pen Book on Attracting Foot Traffic in Independent Stores
December 2,
2020 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
Mark Kinsley, president and CEO of Englander, and Mark Quinn, co-founder of Spink & Co., Farm-Grown Beds, are launching their new book, Come Back to Bed: Attract More Foot Traffic and Make People Fall in Love with Your Store on Dec. 8.
Come Back to Bed is a guidebook for independent retailers that offers strategies and principles to differentiate a brand, form lasting customer relationships, and drive foot traffic into stores.
The book comes as the retail industry continues to experience a massive transition, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kinsley and Quinn hope to help mattress and furniture retailers who are looking for creative ways to catapult their businesses.
“During the pandemic shutdowns, we saw what our towns would look like if independent retail disappears,” Kinsley said. “Many businesses shut their doors for good because they couldn’t weather the storm. My hope is that our book will inspire retailers to go on the offense by offering magical experiences that can’t be found when shopping online.”
The book is filled with strategies and principles that independent retailers can deploy to build their brands, connect with customers in meaningful ways, and make their names notorious in their marketplaces.
“We don’t want businesses to survive, we want them to thrive.” Quinn said. “The problem for independent retailers is that they have to compete with e-commerce and big-box stores. If you are going toe-to-toe against those giant budgets, you have to find a way to be unique and stand out, and that’s what our book will help retailers do.”
About the book, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, owner of the Gallery Furniture retail chain said, “Retail is not dead. At Gallery Furniture, we live by the principles Mark and Mark have laid out. We are fearless promoters, live to serve our customers and know the importance of being different. This book is a must-read for retailers who want to go from surviving to thriving.”
While the book is written by two leaders in the mattress industry, Kinsley and Quinn said they believe any independent retailer—regardless of industry—will find it helpful. In addition to being a playbook for building a meaningful brand and deepening those community connections, the book features more than 70 foot traffic-driving ideas that actually work, gathered from real independent retailers.