THE HISTORY OF SPENCER’S MATTRESS
1986-1989 — A Store Is Born
To think it all started with a 21-year-old entrepreneur. Spencer Simcik was always a 
self-motivated and ambitious kid. During his youth he was always dreaming and working hard in the community mowing lawns, cleaning pools, washing cars even harvesting and selling mistletoe at Christmas time. Little did he know he was destined for success? Spencer Graduated high school in 1983.
He went to college to pursue a basketball scholarship. Six months later he knew school was not going to be the way to fulfill his dreams. In 1984 Spencer went to work for a small furniture store as a delivery person and soon worked his way up to head of customer service. While working at the furniture store Spencer managed to save a small amount of money. In 1986 Spencer, threw it all on the line, and signed a $90,000 retail lease for his first mattress store. Spencer was one of the first pioneers in California to specialize in mattresses exclusively; at that time mattresses were purchased primarily at department stores and furniture stores. Spencer figured if he could specialize in a niche product, he may not do a high volume, but in return would build a lifelong clientele and following, in fact he has. His first clients still call him for his expertise
1990-1993 — Moving Up In The World
In 1986 came the vision and move and open a chain of mattress stores. Spencer opened his second store with a twist; he bought some old manufacturing equipment and started making custom mattresses for his customers. He has always been industrious and wanted to have a complete understanding from the bottom up. His knowledge of the mattress industry far exceeds most business owners in the industry. Spencer is widely known for his design and innovation skills and has consulted with top-level brands. Spencer now designs and distributes his own brand of mattresses by the brand name of OptiRest. He uses the best raw materials available. By design and developing he can save the consumer up to 30% for quality superior to major brands. His stores also offer a wide variety of well-known brands, such as Sealy, Simmons Stearns and Foster in addition to the finest brands from around the world, Hastens, Carpe Diem from Sweden and Natura from Canada. His store is one of the only stores in the world that cater to the budget cautious price shopper all the way to the ultra luxury consumer where there is no budget. What ever your needs, you are sure to get an honest assessment and full education and prepare you to make the right decision.
1991-2002 — Read All About It
Flexing his marketing muscle, Spencer created splashy ad campaigns to bring people in the door. People started seeing the huge stacks of mattresses everywhere – on billboards, delivery trucks, and even in parking lots. Spencer’s business philosophy is simple; “invest in your customers and they will invest with you. He maintains ultra clean showrooms and invests in a large inventory so that customers can get their merchandise immediately. Spencer laughs when he quotes an old merchants saying; ”I’m inventory rich and cash poor”. He claims, “it’s not the cash in the bank that makes you money it’s the inventory in the warehouse that gets the biggest return. His business model became as refined as his mattresses over the next 11 years. Soon Friends and family wanted to open stores and sell his brand. Before he knew it Spencer was the visionary, leader and catalyst to over 22 stores in nationwide. Each store is independently owned and operated.
2003 – 2010 — New Trends – Specialty Sleep and Health!
Spencer’s intuition and experience spots a new trend. Over the years Spencer noticed consumers purchased mattresses based on price and comfort, but there was rarely a consideration regarding the benefits of health through proper sleep. Spencer spent a year researching mattresses that are beneficial to overall health and body rejuvenation. He traveled worldwide from Canada to 
Sweden. He calls Sweden” the sleep capital of the world” They are far more advanced in sleep studies. He found there are three reasons most likely to obstruct sleep. First was proper spinal alignment, which has to do with the type of coil, and or core the mattress is consisted of. If the core of the mattress is not engineered correctly it could adversely affect the correct sleep position. Second, the internal filling materials. There are hundreds of filling materials. The purpose of the filling materials is to alleviate uncomfortable pressure points. Pressure on muscles and joints can cause constricted blood flow and lack circulation, which in turn may cause the heart rate to increase. The sooner we can get to what is called REM sleep the better. This is when our growth hormones and immune system rebuilds. Finally, the type of top material commonly known as quilting is important, Spencer has learned the more natural materials used such as cotton wool, flax and even an age old secret, horse hair the easier it is to control body core temperature by naturally wicking it away from your body. If we can keep our body temperature normal we are less apt to toss and turn. Simcik says; my objective when I work with clients is to create the healthiest sleep environment as I possibly can, while maintaining the integrity of price expectations and superior craftsmanship
2011-2017 Quality Never Sleeps
Spencer’s endless pursuit to exceed expectations has made him an fixture in his industry. “I’m a disruptor in the industry, I like to disrupt every part of our industry because there is a lot of misrepresentation,” he says, “It’s become driven by sales, sales sales, but it really should be about quality of sleep. My whole thing is, if we educate the consumer, the money is going to come.”
Today, Spencer makes between 800 and 1000 Churchill & Smith mattresses per year, and has sold over 14,000 pillows in the last two years. In all his business has grown exponentially. Santa Barbara Mattress is truly a family affair, with Spencer, his wife, his son, mother, three sisters and two nieces all playing a role. Working with family has been a source of strength and stability for the business. “Sleep for a healthier life”
