If you’ll ever purchase a mattress in your lifetime, you need to read this!

Mattress shopping is complicated. I purchased my first (and current) mattress about six years ago by walking into a furniture store, lying on a few, and buying the cushy, plush one I liked. Since then, that cushy pillow top that I thought was so great has formed dips where we lay and a hump in the middle. Where initially you could go bowling on one side of the bed and not notice it on the other, we now feel every little move the other person makes. But since it is a pillow top, it can’t be flipped or re-squished or any simply fix.

Today I had the pleasure of trying out the Sleep Number store at Town Center Mall. It is nothing like what I thought. I’ve heard the advertising for it for decades, been passed that store in the mall a hundred times, but I had some (unfounded) preconceived notion that the sleep number thing was a gimmick that would cost a ton extra. I was astounded by what they offer there. 

I met with Marci, who has been with the company for 16 years, and definitely knew what she was doing. First she had me lie on a bed that sensed my body pressure. A thermal image on the ceiling showed me how the mattress formed around my body. She then adjusted the numbers and I could both feel the mattress become softer and see as the pressure of my body against the bed evened out. You set the bed to your comfort level with a bedside remote control. You can adjust the number at any time (I wish I’d had this when I was pregnant and my body had changed so much). 

Sleep Number has 9 different beds — both memory foam and pillow top types. And the pillow tops? The top layer is replaceable so you aren’t stuck lying in a gutter in your own bed.

Please click the above image to earn me points for this review.

And it’s not just about the mattress. They have amazing pillows! Marci told me 20% of the comfort is from your pillow. And for them, pillows aren’t just firm versus fluffy. Currently, I have a $20 memory foam pillow from Target…and it makes me sweat! When I first got it this summer I would literally soak my pillow even though I wasn’t overly hot in general. Well, Sleep Number has foam pillows with a gel liner that is supposed to eliminate this problem! Or how about an air pillow? Turn the nozzle one way and you can squish air out to make the pillow thinner. Let it go, and it reinflates itself for a fuller depth. They even had a two-sided pillow — two types of pillows in one depending on which way you flip it. Not to mention the six or so various shaped pillows for different uses (such as maternity pillows or prop-up for reading pillows). And if STILL none of these work for you? You can create your own pillow! Sleep Number also sells all the liners, protectors, and even sheets.

One other product I tried out at the store was the DualTemp layer.  This mattress cover heats or cools each side of the bed so that both you and your partner can sleep at just the right temperature. I like to sleep snuggled under blankets because I get cold easily; my husband sleeps with the blanket half off of him. With the DualTemp layer, we both can adjust the temperature of our side of the bed with a remote. This is just a top layer, not part of the mattress, so this could go on any bed, not just a Sleep Number mattress.

As I listened in awe of all the amazing products Marci was showing me, I was mentally imagining the ridiculous price tag this kind of stuff would come with. I mean that is how it works; better stuff costs more. Awesome, cool stuff like this? Gonna be a fortune. Steeling myself for the inevitable sticker shock, Marci handed me the pricing chart. And sticker shock it was. Because these mattresses didn’t cost much more than what I paid for the one I have now. Plus they offer six months lay away, so if there is a Christmas or some other sale on the one you want, you can get it on lay away to lock in that sale price. Plus they offer a 30 day lowest price. And financing.

It seems to me that with the way you can adjust the firmness, replace a pillowtop, etc, that this is a mattress that sets you for life. Or at least longer than six years.  When we are ready to make our next mattress purchase, I am 100% coming back here to Sleep Number to get it. And I’m kicking myself for not having checked it out before. (But I was young and stupid; now I’m a little teensy bit older and much, much wiser).

So the next time you are at the mall, go by the Sleep Number store – even if it is just to check it out. Marci was wonderful and there was 0 pressure to buy. They don’t need it — their products are that good.

*I am not employed by Sleep Number and am not being paid for this review. I did get a free toddler pillow for my little girl while we were visiting the store and Smiley360 might send me a free pillow. But nothing was contingent on a good review. It is 100% my opinion based on my visit to the store.