By Sasha Harrinanan Thursday, July 26 2012

LOCAL mattress and furniture manufacturer, Lensyl Products Limited (Lensyl), has acquired the rights to distribute and sell the world-famous Tempur-pedic brand of mattresses.

Chief Executive of the family-run firm, Justin Lall, told Business Day “Tempur-pedic has not only invested in the quality of its products but in promotion of them, that’s why we’ve seen such a great response from our customers to this brand. Yes, it costs more to buy one of these mattresses but it’s an investment worth making because, thing about it, you spend almost a third of your life sleeping.”

Lensyl’s acquisition of the local distribution rights to the US-based Tempur-pedic brand may be considered the icing on a cake of hard work and perseverance - the company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, having been founded in the same year Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from England, 1962.

Lenny and Sylvia Lall, Justin’s grandparents, established the company under their home on the corner of Bell-Smythe and Agostini Streets, Curepe. The company name, as you’ve probably already figured out, was a combination of their names - Lensyl.

In the five decades since, there have been economic and physical up and downs, including a couple of major recessions and the destruction of its Macoya head office by fires in 1982 and 1989. There was another fire in 1990 and severe flooding in 2003 but each time “my grandfather and father, along with our hard-working staff, have persevered and now Lensyl is facing a future of opportunities” Lall stated proudly.

Chief among those opportunities for Lensyl is carving a place for itself in high-end sector of the mattress/bed market, having already proven itself in the affordable and mid-range sectors with its own brands, including the All-Night range of foam mattresses.

“This company has been family-run for much of its existence. There was a time, about nine years ago, when we hired someone to run the company but it’s now being run by myself and my sister, Narissa Lall-Seunath. She handles a lot of the administration work while I am the ‘face’ of the company when it comes to promotions. We make a great team,” Lall said.

Tempur-pedic is the second high-end brand to be distributed by Lensyl and sold not only in its retail chain, Bed-Quarters, but in other major furniture stores across the country.

Around this time last year, the company introduced the Sleep iD range of customised mattresses to TT. Sleep iD was designed in collaboration with the US-based International Chiropractors Association. The technology-based mattress set has also been endorsed by the Chiropractic Association of TT. Using the touch-screen BodyMatch programme, customers are able to get the correct combination of proper spinal support and comfort. There are four types of Sleep iD beds to choose from - A, B, C and D, depending on your needs.

Similarly, Tempur-pedic has a range of styles and options to suit various spinal support needs and personal preferences in mattresses and bed frames. Those include the Tempur-Cloud, Tempur-HD, Tempur-Contour and Tempur-Simplicity range of mattresses, as well as the five adjustable bases for the bed.

When it comes to price, Lall said Lensyl’s customers would see TT prices that were similar to those in US retail chains because “we’re not trying to price-gouge anybody. We want you to come into our store, try out the product and realise it makes more sense to buy it here than to import your bed from abroad.”

“Some people have done that in the past either because it wasn’t available locally or because the price was too high. Not anymore, now that Lensyl has introduced Tempur-Pedic to the local market,” Lall stated.

Lensyl launched the Tempur-Pedic brand this past May during the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) 2012 at Hyatt Regency hotel, Port-of-Spain.

Noting the “fantastic response from people at TIC,” Lall told Business Day sales of the Tempur-Pedic brand have actually been better than that of Sleep iD when it first launched last year.

“People know the brand and its features, so they are quicker to spend money on a Tempur-Pedic brand. However Sleep iD sales have increased over the past year, so we expect both brands to do well.”

The Lensyl CEO also noted that since the company’s entrance into the high-end mattress market, it has seen growth in the sale of these products. Something which Justin Lall said boded well for the next 50 years of Lensyl’s existence.