At its heart, all local business is family business.
That’s particularly true here in the Lowcountry, where the lines between community and family can get a little blurry sometimes. We raise our kids together here, cheering them on with one voice on the baseball fields and from the sidelines. We share in the communal experience of gathering around an oyster roast or a beach party. In short, we are a community in the purest sense of the world.
And a community – just like a family – always takes care of its own.
Charlie and Carolyn Taylor with their daughters Stella and Rose.
When Charlie Taylor opened May River Mattress Company three years ago, there was no certainty that his new venture would be successful. After all, the mattress industry is dominated by big-box brands – national chains that stake their claim at every strip mall and storefront they can in order to squash smaller stores.
It was not a sure thing. But Taylor had a few things going for him.
The first was his family. A third-generation entrepreneur, his grandparents, Charles and Ellen Taylor, started Shoreline Rentals on Hilton Head Island in the 1980s; his parents, Ginny and Mark, own Hilton Head Pottery and Taylor Long Term Rentals, and have shown him how a business is run.
The second element is his own invaluable experience, spending the past 15 years focused on the mattress industry as well as the wider furniture industry as a whole. His was an experience both earned and passed down, making him ideally suited for running his own business.
But the biggest thing he had going for him was this community.
Stella tests the new mattresses with a few good bounces.
“We have had so much community support in our effort to offer people a truly local mattress store,” Taylor said. “It’s truly about keeping dollars local. A lot of people talk about that, but it’s an integral part of any community that when you spend money here, it stays here.”
He doesn’t mean it stays just in the company. Taylor launched May River Mattress as a celebration of community, and he uses it to give back at every opportunity.
“The money you spend here lets us support our community and its initiatives,” he said. “We’ve been supported enough that we’ve been able to help support Island Rec Center, the Outside Foundation, Coastal Conservation League … if it helps kids or our local environment, we’re there.”
But even the most sincere gestures of goodwill can only go so far. It’s important that a local business be local, but it’s equally important that it offer what customers expect from a business. For a mattress store, that means a wide selection of brands and options to suit any sleeper at a price that won’t keep you up at night. That is exactly what Taylor has been able to deliver, thanks to his impressive business acumen.
“We certainly don’t carry the weight of some of the bigger names in certain aspects, but being a small business, it’s far easier to be nimble,” Taylor said. “We’re able to minimize overhead and pass the savings on to our customers, and we’re not beholden to any one brand or manufacturer. If something isn’t working or we don’t like the value a label offers, it’s easy for us to change.”
That has allowed May River Mattress Company the opportunity to curate a collection that offers the best night’s sleep at any price. From national brands like Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster, Beautyrest, and Nectar to smaller, family-run lines like Greensboro, North Carolina’s Mattress Grove – almost all of which are made in America – it’s the same selection you’d expect at the big box. That is, if the big box stores were as selective about their offerings.
Because that could be the biggest advantage that Taylor had in creating his business. The man lives, breathes, and knows mattresses.
“At our store, it’s very much educational based. We walk you through the whole process and let you compare,” he said. “I’ll have a customer come in who wants the exact mattress type and brand they bought 15 years ago, but a lot can change in 15 years. Some labels simply offer a better product for what you’re looking for now. Plus, you’ve probably changed in 15 years. Your body is different, your sleep patterns are different, so your needs are different.”
That education is just part of a philosophy that puts the customer – that member of the community and thus, that member of the family – first.
“A mattress is a very personal, subjective purchase and you want someone to guide you,” Taylor said. “At a big box store, they might just show you the selection and say, ‘go for it.’ Here, you’re going to get me or one of my employees who also have years of mattress-specific experience, and we know what to look for.”
It’s a dedication to you, the customer, that is simply reciprocal. They support you, because you supported them first.
“We’re very lucky to have such a great community and such great customers,” Taylor said.
May River Mattress Company is located at 1060 Fording Island Road, Suite B in Bluffton. Stop by, call (843) 836-2337, or visit mayrivermattress.com.
