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Bradley Belen believes that nesting and healthy sleep are colliding under a quiet luxury lifestyle that’s primed for the expensive beds he just started selling in Dallas.
Belen is co-owner of the new Hästens store on McKinney Avenue south Knox Street. He owns the showroom with Hästens’ U.S. distributor, MadaLuxe Group, where he is managing director of home.
Prices for a Hästens king-size bed start at $25,000 for the blue and white check Maranga and go up from there. The most expensive is the $670,000 Grand Vividus which weighs 1,600 pounds and has an engraved plaque made by the same people who make Olympics gold medals.
Both are among the 14 beds on display that are made to match customers’ preferred tension and sleep positions. The store also sells headboards, pillows, duvets and personal sleep accessories including bathrobes. Sweden-based Hästens started out in 1852 as saddle-making company. Horse hair was used in saddles to support the bounce and became a signature stuffing in its mattresses.
Belen chose Dallas for his first store because of its favorable demographics. He looked at home prices, existing and new, income and wealth.
Timing for a U.S. expansion has a lot to do with lifestyle, but it’s helpful that the U.S. has never had so many millionaires and billionaires. He believes people are ready to spend differently for something as important as a good night’s sleep.
“People spend $50,000 for a car, why not for a bed — where you spend a third of your life?”
“I think it’s an investment,” he said of his personal Maranga Queen mattress that costs $20,000.
Why do the beds cost so much? Horsehair creates a moisture-wicking top layer. Other materials are cotton, wool, flax, Swedish pine, and individually pocketed coils. Most of the bed is man-made without heavy factory machinery.
Belen calls it a forever bed that comes with a 25-year warranty with only the top layer ever needing to be replaced. That costs about $7,000.
To expand the U.S. market, Belen will be targeting luxury hotels.
Austin’s Hotel Saint Cecilia rooms have Hästens beds. One of the penthouse suites in The Thompson Hotel in Downtown Dallas has a Hästens bed. Belen partnered with The Thompson for an event Thursday evening for invited “tastemakers, influencers and media” who will be served cocktails and canapes and have a chance to try out the bed.
MadaLuxe’s new arrangement with the 171-year-old Swedish bed maker is much like a franchise agreement. Madaluxe plans to open 20 Hästens stores in 13 states across the South, Rockies, and Midwest within the next three to five years. Other Texas cities are in the plans including a possible second local store in Frisco. Houston will open later this year in the River Oaks District.
Hästens has 300 retailer partners, some with multiple stores, in 40 countries. Europe is a mature market, but the U.S. has been underserved, Belen said. There are 30 retail locations in the U.S. that sell the brand and one of those is The Luxury Bed Collection in Dallas.
Hästens already had customers in Dallas before the store opened. He won’t say who they are, but the brand doesn’t mind sharing names of celebrities that sleep on Hästens beds: Drake, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Angelina Jolie.
Asked if a recent trademark infringement legal dispute over blue check patterns with local retailer Coco & Dash had anything to do with his selection of Dallas, Belen said no, and he wasn’t party to it. Also, his interest in opening in Dallas wasn’t a reason for the lawsuit. Coco & Dash doesn’t sell mattresses and the case was thrown out by two judges.
Belen grew up in a northern suburb of Detroit and had been living in Chicago until he recently moved to Dallas.
Belen said he doesn’t need to sell too many beds per store to run a profitable enterprise, but didn’t provide the math. He spent 15 years in finance, calling on hedge funds.
He said his mother wasn’t thrilled that his new career is selling mattresses.
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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