Specialty Sleep Association Show Back in Las Vegas for January 2008 at World Market Center Furniture Show

“Las Vegas has proven to be a good home for the Specialty Sleep Association (SSA) Show within the World Market Center,” says Tambra Jones, Executive Director of the SSA. “The Specialty Sleep Association is pleased to be back in the same pavilion where they exhibited in 2007.” Jones notes that mattress, bedding and top-of-bed buyers know to look for the SSA companies in Pavilion #3 at the World Market Center.

Jones noted that at the summer 2007 market there were 25 exhibitors in the SSA space, and the association is expecting about the same turnout in January 2008.

Jones also noted that there is a broad range of innovative sleep related products offered at the SSA Show including, “airbeds, a full variety of visco, latex and bio-based foam mattress products, a very innovative gel product, several ‘green’ companies showing organic sleep systems, high-tech sleep systems, mattress frames, fabulous top-of-bed products, mattress protection products, and retail management systems. Also there is a furniture manufacturer and a marketing promotions company.”

Jones noted that there is an easy-to-shop concentration of mattress, top-of-bed and bedding companies all located in the Pavilion 3 building right on the main campus with the World Market Center.

Jones said that the SSA likes Vegas because buyers like coming to the city. “The SSA has been at the Las Vegas Market from the beginning, back in the summer 2005 opening show,” said Jones. “It is the only place we exhibit now as an association. After several years of participating in an annual event that moved around the country, we found that our bedding buyers liked Las Vegas best, so this is the perfect fit for us.”

“Our members who are showing independently still value the SSA mission and are paying dues to support our efforts. That is also an indication of the solidarity of our category.”

Jones said the SSA is dedicated to helping the category maintain its growth. “Our goal is to serve as advocates for the specialty sleep category—and watch it grow and prosper,” she said. “By providing this temporary exhibit space, we offer our members the largest shared bedding showroom in town. Bedding buyers walk into our area and know they will see what they came to see. Our SSA Sleep Products Exhibit allows smaller bedding manufacturers to maintain a real presence at the Las Vegas Market. We are a focused destination for bedding buyers. Bedding companies showing independently in the temporary areas offer the buyers only a single company or showing and not a concentration of sleep products. We offer a full range of companies and products for the buyer.”

Jones also noted that the mission of the new FAST (formerly the Futon Association International) has no impact on the mission of the SSA. “This has no bearing on the Specialty Sleep Association. Our association and mission remains the same with no thought of changing its focus or member base. We are committed to our manufacturing and retail members and their efforts to grow our industry and the story of sleep innovation in the marketplace. We are proud of our industry’s success and we will continue to support our leaders in their efforts to keep our products in the forefront of the mattress industry’s growth.”

In light of this commitment, the SSA is offering retail mattress and bedding stores a free 6-month membership. Retail members will be listed on the SSA website so that consumers will have one more way of finding stores in their area that carry specialty sleep products. “We receive consumer questions from our website,” say Jones. “We do the best we can to direct consumers to a store carrying specialty sleep products in their area—but it would be GREAT if we had more choices to offer them. We are willing to offer retailers a free trial membership to see if they see any improvement in their web-based consumer contacts. It’s a win-win for all our members!”

For SSA member or trade show information,

contact Tambra Jones at (559) 868-4187

or tambra@netptc.net

www.specialtysleepnet.com