Casper Opens First Brick-And-Mortar Store

After experimenting with pop-up shops, mattress retailer Casper has decided to open a permanent store. The company’s first brick-and-mortar location will be in New York City, The Washington Post reported.

The 3,000-square-foot store will feature six mini-bedrooms. In those spaces, customers will be able to test out Casper’s products, such as pillows, sheets and duvets. The store will also host community events focused on sleep and wellness.

“Buying a mattress or sheets or pillows is one of the most intimate purchases you’ll make,” Philip Krim, one of five co-founders, told the Post. “You should be mentally relaxed and comfortable so you can find the right product.”

In addition to pop-up stores, the company has experimented with trucks that contain four napping pods dubbed “Napmobiles” that gave customers an opportunity to try out the company’s mattresses. To help customers sleep, the pods came with prerecorded bedtime stories as well as privacy blinds.

The news comes after Casper opened 15 pop-up shops across the U.S. in October. At the time, the company said the shops were open in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago through spring 2018.

In the shops, customers were able to try out Casper’s products — such as its ergonomically designed Casper Wave mattress — and buy them on the spot if they so choose. The shops also featured Casper’s other products, such as pillows and sheets.

Until then, Casper had not had a significant physical presence, although the company briefly partnered with West Elm to sell its products in the retailer’s brick-and-mortar stores, online and in its catalog.

And, in 2017, Target reportedly offered $1 billion to purchase the New York City startup, which is popular among urban millennials because the company will ship foam mattresses, folded up in a box, directly to customers’ doors. To mitigate concerns about ordering a mattress online without trying it first, Casper even offers a 100-day return policy. Its website also sells bedding, pillows and a modified box spring.