In bed with the Brits

Discount king imports luxury mattresses to Valley

CHRIS GARIFO
Staff Writer

Mattress mogul Roger Magowitz feathered his nest with plastic (as in credit cards) and built a retail empire of 36 stores in two states, including the recently opened and very upscale Bedroom Eyes in Scottsdale.

After spending three years as a U.S. Marine, Magowitz began his mattress career in 1983, when he went to work as a part-time salesman for Mattress Discounters, a chain of stores in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Within three years, Magowitz had advanced to vice president and part-owner of the company, and in that capacity he helped open additional locations in Virginia Beach, Va.

Then some 12 years ago, the company decided to sell its six Virginia Beach outlets and Magowitz, in his words, "woke up one day and told the wife, 'Why don't we take a shot at buying some stores?' "

Magowitz says he had made it a practice, "against my wife's wishes," of filling out all credit-card applications received in the mail. Using cash advances from several of the cards he obtained, along with home-equity and family loans, he bought Mattress Discounters' Virginia Beach stores.

He ultimately expanded the business to 17 Mattress Discounters and two Mattress Salvage stores in Virginia plus 17 Metropolitan Mattress stores in the Phoenix area, with three more planned to open later this year.

But right now, the newest and brightest jewel in Magowitz's crown is Bedroom Eyes, which he says is "the first of its kind not only for us, but really in the country."

Customers who visit Bedroom Eyes will find a brand of mattress available nowhere else in the country, he declares. "They're literally the finest mattresses in the world, period," Magowitz says of the Vi-Spring mattresses he is importing exclusively from London. "It's a company that's been manufacturing (mattresses) since 1901."

Bedroom Eyes features iron beds and offers an exclusively designed line of bed frames from the Taylor Gray company in California. Bed linens are imported from White House in London, and down-filled pillows from Canada.

"We are going after the mid and upper range of the marketplace," Magowitz says. "Our imported silks (and other) materials are the finest available."

Magowitz said business is going well, especially considering the store opened for business during the summer. "Any good business takes time. You're never going to just open the door (and be flooded with customers)," Magowitz acknowledges, "especially when dealing with ultra-premium products."

Magowitz adds that bedding ensembles costing $2,000 to $5,000 "obviously are not the type of product that everybody is running to purchase." But he believes that with the housing boom in north Scottsdale, the store at 15507 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 110, is in a prime location for home-furnishings retailers.

Magowitz envisions Bedroom Eyes as the pilot for a chain of upscale bedroom stores. "I wanted to do something fun, something unique," he says. "It's as nice a home-furnishings store as you could find in Arizona, or maybe in the country. It takes your breath away."

Magowitz, 40, moved to Arizona five years ago with his wife, Jeanne, and son, Craig, now 19, from Atlanta, where he had opened and later closed several stores. He says he had already opened three or four Metropolitan Mattress stores here when he decided to live in Phoenix because "it's a beautiful place." He travels to Virginia on business for about a week every four to six weeks but does not maintain a home there.

He and his family belong to the Temple Kol Ami in Scottsdale.

Home