INDUSTRY: Waterbed promoters are hoping the industry is back on the upswing»
TA M A R AC, FL A . » Waterbeds may draw odd looks if they come up in conversation, but two pioneers of the industry in the United States are hoping to generate a new wave of popularity for the old furniture.
In the City Furniture showroom in Tamarac, a sign promises Afloat mattresses are “not your parents’ waterbed.” City Furniture CEO Keith Koenig flops onto one, describing how it contours to his physique while also fitting into standard bedding and stylish bed frames.
He’s not selling nostalgia, and he doesn’t bring up waterbeds’ notorious reputation until he’s asked pointblank about it.
“We’re selling better sleep, more comfortable sleep, temperature control,” Koenig said.
Koenig, whose furniture store chain started as Waterbed City in 1971, has joined with inventor Charles Hall and former waterbed manufacturer Michael Geraghty to form Tamaracbased Hall Flotation, which produces the Afloat waterbeds. They range from about $2,000 to $3,300 — adjusting for inflation, about the same cost as a waterbed in 1975.
“Seeing a thing undulate like they did in the early 1970s, people looked at it and said, ‘Well, this is an interesting ride,’ ” Hall said.
With materials unavailable in waterbeds’ heyday, Hall said, “it’s been kind of fun to reimagine all the things to make the design better.”
It’s been 50 years since Hall initially designed a waterbed for a thesis project at San Francisco State University. By the mid1980s, the Waterbed Manufacturers Association reported roughly $2 billion in annual sales.
Michael Dart was one of those 1980s customers in Rochester, N.Y. His waterbed didn’t move with him to Florida several years later, and Dart said he missed its comforting warmth. When he went mattress shopping in June, he was thrilled to see the Afloat beds at City Furniture and bought the first one.
“It’s like floating, it’s so nice,” Dart said at his Coral Springs home. “Everybody is like, ‘Really, you got a waterbed?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’re really good, they’re better than they ever were.’ I’m like a popculture hero now with the guys at work.”
If those guys think Dart is swell, they should meet Jeri Lollis. She bought her first one 40 years ago.
“I bought it because it was different, it was controversial, it was almost a conversation piece,” said Lollis, a retired corrections deputy.
Two years ago, for her 80th birthday, Lollis bought a new waterbed, and she still gets a kick out of the looks she gets about her bedroom setup. After hearing about the Afloat venture, she said she’d love to take Hall out to dinner to compare their adventures as waterbed owners.
“I’m kind of a weird, different person. I think anything’s OK,” Lollis said.
Koenig pulled the plug on waterbed sales at City Furniture stores about 20 years ago because
“The millennials buying the futons, we can’t get them interested in the waterbeds.” Lynn Hardman, Southern Waterbeds and Futons in Athens ,Ga
he was unhappy with the available supply. But he’s decided it’s time to reintroduce them.
The first shipment of roughly 40 beds sold out within a month, Koenig said. City Furniture is extending its Afloat test market to nine of its 17 Florida stores, and Geraghty said the Hall Floatation website sales will soon be available.
Hall is curious to see who buys more: baby boomers or younger customers. So is Lynn Hardman of Southern Waterbeds and Futons in Athens, Ga. He sold Lollis both her waterbeds, and he’s eager to see something revitalize his industry.
“The millennials buying the futons, we can’t get them interested in the waterbeds,” said Hardman.