Shifman question

Yet another question related to my upcoming move...

I might need to get a new mattress/box spring set, and was doing some preliminary searching on line. I've had S&F in the past and they frankly strike me as a bit overpriced for the quality. Shifman and RP seem to have good reviews in terms of construction, and Bloomingdales has a sale on Shifmans at the moment.

Does anyone know if there are differences in the reliability/durability/quality of construction between the regular Shifman sets and those sets sold exclusively sold through Bloomingdales.

I’m not in the US and so unable to test things in person just yet, but Bloomingdales will let me lock in the current sales price right now and arrange for delivery a month or more later (when I move to my place). When I get to the US and test the mattress out in person, if I decide its not for me, I can cancel the order without penalty.

I’m tempted to put in an order, but don’t want to waste my time if the Shifman sets exclusive to Bloomingdales are inferior to the regular line.

These are some of the ones I was thinking of. Any experiences with them?

Shifman Traditional “SuperFirm” -- $1322 for a Queen mattress and box spring set
Shifman Traditional “Firm” -- $1322 for a Queen set.

Does anyone know how often Bloomingdales marks Shifmans down? Is there a particularly good month to buy mattresses in?

Thanks!

I used to be a Shifman dealer, until Bloomies wanted exclusivity in the Wash DC market (I was undercutting the Bloomies price quite a bit), and I got the phone call from Mike Hammer (owner of Shifman) telling me I was part of a "Marketing Realignment", and my dealership evaporated. So I moved over to Royal Pedic, which makes a near identical product. That was about 12 years ago.

Shifman changed their line. They have the old-school Premium line which is now called "The Masters Collection", it and the Royal-Pedic are very similar.

Then they added in several layers of dumbed-down models, which are the ones Bloomies runs on promo. They are made no better than Sealy,Simmons, S&F, Serta, King Koil. Same product, trading on the buzz from the Masters Series.

Anything Bloomies sells for $ 1,300 you can buy elsewhere for $ 900 - you can pretty much bet on that. Bloomies is a full mark store - PLUS. How much are they getting for their Masters Sets?

Don't get me wrong, Shifman makes an EXCELLENT bed if you stay with their premium line. Their economy / promotional lines...not so much. In fact the only beds I buy for myself and family are the all-cottons that are hand-made. I just get Royal Pedics now instead of Shifman. Really the only difference is Shifman is made at the end of the Newark NJ airport runway, and Royal Pedic in Los Angeles.

Hi Duane, thank you for saving me the time. It looked too good to be true, and now I know why!

Here's the Shifman at Bloomies that would be comparable to a Royal Pedic, "on sale" for $ 3,900 in a Queen + whatever delivery and taxes would apply. THIS IS A GOOD BED, and I would recommend it.

http://www1.bloomingdales.com/catalo...hifman*-1*-1*1

The thing is, i sell the Royal Pedic set (with the upgraded 8-way hand-tied box spring) for about $ 1,000 less - delivered. What does that $ 1,000 more buy you? Well, you can return a bed to Bloomies if you don't like it for full credit. I don't offer that, because its illegal to resell a bed that someone has slept on and it has to be either tossed, donated, or returned to the factory to have all covers and foam/latex/cotton removed and rebuilt - pretty costly do so. If you want to have return privileges, then buying from Bloomies makes sense and they have that packed into the selling price.

Thanks for the info Duane. I'm trying to put more of my budget towards seating, so was hoping to get bedding for about $1500 or less. Will keep your RP option in mind as I shop, though. I attach very little value to the return guarantees since one often has to pay return shipping, so thats not an issue for me.

We bought a "Nature's Rest" latex mattress set (my husband has allergies and dust mites can't live in latex). It looks and feels like a regular mattress (unlike the Tempurpedic and similar brands) and we are exceedingly satisfied with it. Very good quality stuff. We bought it from one of the major furniture stores in the Boston area.

http://www.naturesrest.com/