Ecommerce mattress brand, Endy is moving into the brick-and-mortar space, today announcing a partnership with furniture retailer Urban Barn, allowing customers to test out Endy mattresses in stores across Canada.
With this new partnership Endy has opened 37 showrooms across the country, that will allow users to test out the mattresses before buying them online.
“We want to look at brick-and-mortar in the Endy way.”
Endy is following in the footsteps of a number of ecommerce brands that are now making the decision to enter the physical retail space. US-based competitor Casper, already has its own standalone stores, as well as retail partnerships with Indigo, EQ3, and the Hudson’s Bay.
This announcement comes a few months after the Toronto-based Endy was acquired by Sleep Country Canada. Rajen Ruparell, co-founder and chairman of Endy, and Mike Gettis, co-founder and CEO of Endy, spoke to BetaKit after the acquisition, and noted the company’s intention to expand into the brick-and-mortar space in 2019.
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“We want to look at brick-and-mortar in the Endy way. We want to make an experience that fits with our customer experience that we’ve done online. It’s something that customers really enjoy,” Gettis told BetaKit at the time.
While the Sleep Country acquisition inspired questions about whether Endy might create a physical presence with the Canadian mattress retailer, Gettis and Ruparell also emphasized that despite the acquisition, the two companies would remain separate and not work together on a day-to-day basis.
“The spirit of the deal was the fact that we have a lot of respect for their heritage and the stuff [Sleep Country] has built, but they have a lot of respect and understanding that we are experts in our field, which is building an ecommerce brand,” said Ruparell. “That is very different than the Sleep Country brand. So what made this easy for both of us was the neutral aspect and the ability to allow us to continue on our own path without the interference of the other. I think there’s an opportunity to lean on each other with learning but that will come over time.”
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The two co-founders also emphasized their desire to remain a Canadian focused company that its “built for Canadians by Canadians and shipped in Canada to Canadians.” They expressed interest in expanding the brand and double-down the company’s presence in every Canadian province and doing so in their own unique Endy-way.
“As a Canadian owned and operated company, we are thrilled to partner with Endy.”
Endy’s partnership with Urban Barn meets both of those goals, as the ecommerce brand gets to build-out its presence across the country and with a Canadian company to help it achieve that goal. “Endy and Urban Barn…share similar founding stories and brand values,” Endy stated. “Both companies, respectively, were launched by childhood best friends dedicated to bringing premium products to Canadian consumers.”
“As a Canadian owned and operated company, we are thrilled to partner with Endy as they share our values and drive to deliver quality products to Canadian consumers,” said Ainslie Fincham the director of marketing for Urban Barn; which first opened in Vancouver in 1990.
The Endy Mattress and Endy Pillow will be available in the showrooms. Users will be able to test out the products and will receive a promotional code to then order online from Endy’s site. Mattresses will still be shipped to customers (in the typical hockey bag-size box) and the 100 night, risk-free trial still applies.
Image courtesy Endy