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From Home Furnishing Business
Kingsdown Partners with Brown Squirrel for Single-Brand Mattress Department
January 14,
2026 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
Luxury bedding manufacturer, Kingsdown, Inc., has partnered with Brown Squirrel Furniture, a well-known, family-owned retailer located in Knoxville, Tennessee, to create an exclusive, single-brand mattress department that has resulted in increasing sales by 25-percent.
Conceptualized by Jacqueline Morton, senior director of marketing at Kingsdown, the newly renovated, 7,500-square-foot department features a cohesive brand experience and a broad representation of Kingsdown collections, ranging from Prime to Passions, Insignia and K2 to the Sleep to Live custom line.
Kingsdown’s key technology differentiator, the bedMATCH® diagnostic system, designed for customers to find a perfectly matched mattress to their needs, anchors the space. Neutral paint colors and upgraded lighting further brighten the department, with wall messaging spotlighting key products. A 70-inch monitor on continuous loop drives home branding messages and allows customizable content to be featured during promotional periods throughout the year.
“The shopper’s experience is extremely important in any bedding gallery, so our goal was to modernize the area with warmer tones to create a more calming shopping experience. We also considered the flow of the shopper from the entrance through the pathway throughout the space. Each of the pieces work together to convey the kind of attention to detail that’s synonymous with the Kingsdown brand,” said Morton.
“We wanted to emphasize product education for our customers, while also creating a relaxed shopping experience that updates the existing gallery and encompasses the full product range from value to luxury price points, including traditional models and hybrids, within a single space,” said Steve Hanschen, general manager of Brown Squirrel.
“This is a great marriage of two brands known for high quality, hand-crafted products made in North America. Additionally, the opportunity to integrate Kingsdown’s bedMATCH technology provides our customers with an entirely new shopping experience,” Hanschen continued.
According to the executive, “Brown Squirrel has long been well-known for customization and personalization in other product categories throughout the store, and with our Kingsdown partnership we now extend that to the bedding category. We’re able to say to customers, ‘We’ve got the technology that is going to make your choice of mattress easier,’ and that encourages more trust because the customer believes they are getting the true facts about the right products for them.”
“Shopping for a mattress can be an overwhelming experience. However, bedMATCH is providing our customers and our RSA’s with confidence,” agreed Tom Matthews, vice president, merchandising and operations at Brown Squirrel. “Incorporating the technology has differentiated our store in a highly competitive marketplace, and since installing the Kingsdown-exclusive bedding gallery, we have seen a 25% uptick in our mattress business. Tickets have increased in size, with close rates also seeing a significant spike.”
As an added benefit, Matthews said, “Focusing on one brand, as opposed to three or four companies on our floor, has simplified training and allows our RSA’s to better focus on the features and benefits of the collections they are presenting. They are able to communicate the assorted products on our floor to a ‘T!’”