MEBANE, N.C. –Kingsdown has recently completed installation of eye-catching window displays for Sleep Country’s 13 mall-based stores across Canada. The special project, initiated at the retailer’s request, is designed to emphasize the fashion elements of bedding.
Sleep Country’s mall-based stores are located in fashion-driven shopping centers across Canada from the Sherway Gardens Mall in Toronto (where neighboring stores include Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., and Sephora), to Galeries del la Capitale in Quebec where Sleep Country’s neighbors include brands like H&M, Michael Kors and anchors like Hudson’s Bay.
“Our challenge in all of our mall locations is to look like we belong with all the apparel companies surrounding us,” said Stewart Schaefer, chief executive officer of the 290-store Canadian bedding chain. “Our goal in partnering with Kingsdown was to visually heighten awareness of our brand as retailer, and to add a sense of glamour—using our windows just as Kingsdown does with trade buyers at the Las Vegas Market. In other words, we want to stop shoppers in their tracks.”
Schaefer shared that for a long time, Sleep Country deliberately kept its mall windows empty so that shoppers could see directly into the stores. Eventually however, the retailer began to focus on home fashions and accessories in its windows in an attempt to emulate mall-based lifestyle retailers like Pottery Barn. According to Schaefer, approaching Kingsdown to elevate the look further was a natural next step in the stores’ evolution.
Sleep Country mall stores typically feature anywhere from six Kingsdown beds in their assortments, and as many as 11, depending on store size and location. Among the choices, the cloud-like Duet Collection, which features cooling touch fabrics and latex combined with pocket wrapped coils for support that eliminates motion disturbance, and Studio Collection euro-tops are most prevalent.
Like Kingsdown’s Las Vegas showroom, each of the mall windows features mannequins dressed in fabrics drawn from the beds on display. Shoppers view the product through glass frosted with the Kingsdown logo, and its tagline “Style + Substance.”
“In creating the windows, our team sought to create not just an elevated fashion aesthetic, but also a sense of intrigue,” said Kingsdown Chairman Mike James said, adding that the challenge for the design team was that each of Sleep Country’s stores is unique in size and shape. “We went through numerous iterations in the designs, with the mandate being to drive more traffic into the stores…even if it’s initially simply out of curiosity. With installations completed last month, it’s already clear that we’re organically raising awareness of our brand in the process, because customers are walking into the stores and asking the RSAs about Kingsdown.”