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A Minnesota-made mattress company is opening a showroom in Albert Lea next week in the strip mall next to Walmart. 

Minnesota Mattress Factory was started in the mid-1980s in Kenyon by Kirk Hiner, where its factory and first showroom remains today. 

Hiner said when he got out of college he worked for Leggett & Platt, making innersprings, until one day he decided he wanted to start his own business in the industry. 

For the first 30 years, the company manufactured and then sold mattresses exclusively wholesale to retailers and to colleges in Minnesota before expanding into selling factory direct to the public. 

“It’s fun to interact with people who will actually use your product in the end,” he said. 

He estimated the company produces about 3,000 mattresses a year. It also makes and sells custom mattresses for boats, RVs and ice houses. 

Hiner said he saw there were not many mattress choices in the Albert Lea area, so he decided to try out the business’s second showroom there. 

At the new location there will be innerspring, memory foam and latex mattresses available — and others that are a combination of those types — for customers to check out. They also have some adjustable bed options. 

“Really just about anything to do with sleeping, we can figure out,” he said. 

Hiner said in a day when there has been increasing sales of online rollback mattresses, he encouraged people to check out mattress options in person before purchasing one. 

“You have a much better chance of finding a mattress if you try it out versus buying it blindly,” he said. 

The business, at 2343 Leland Drive, opens Thursday and will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays starting out, and he hopes to expand that in the future. 

He said the people working at the store will have a background in mattresses, as they are people who have worked to actually make their product in Kenyon. 

People can also check out the business online at www.minnesotamattressfactory.com.