Name: Murmaid Mattress
Owner: Roger Pickett
New location: A new flagship showroom is in the works on Lee Highway near its intersection with Highway 153.
Opening date: Depending on construction, Pickett hopes to open the new showroom by the first of the year. He said the location is central to the Chattanooga market - exactly the spot he would pinpoint as ideal for a storefront to showcase the manufacturer and retailer's newest products. "This will be our new flagship showroom," said Pickett. "Any time there is new model changes, we will be able to immediately put it on the floor."
Back to the beginning: Murmaid Mattress' first store opened on Lee Highway in 1979, two miles away from where the new showroom will open.
A Chattanooga favorite: Times Free Press readers have voted Murmaid Mattress "Best of the Best Mattress Store" for more than 14 years. The business doesn't just sell to the local market; it locally manufactures 50 percent of the mattresses sold, bolstering the local economy in more ways than one, Pickett said.
Wide reach: Murmaid mattresses are sold nationwide, and will be featured in The Edwin, a new boutique hotel opening in downtown Chattanooga by the Walnut Street bridge in spring 2018.
Family owned: Roger Pickett owns and runs Murmaid Mattress with his wife, Cindy. His parents opened Murmaid Mattress in 1979, and it has stayed in the family since he joined the company full time a decade later.
Current locations: Hixson, Red Bank, North Shore, Lee Highway, Cleveland, Tenn., Fort Oglethorpe and Dalton, Ga., and online at murmaid.com.