SleepSafe moving to county
The company's owners have signed a lease through December on a 110,000-square-foot vacant building off U.S. 220 north of Martinsville and will complete purchasing it in January, according to CEO Joe Hallock and President Gregg Weinschreider. The building is owned by Ramie Mize.
"We will begin moving out of here on the first of January, and if everything goes as expected, we should be in operation within 30 days," Weinschreider said.
"It was exactly what we needed. The new building is also in the country. We love being in a rural setting," he said.
SleepSafe Beds makes beds for people with special needs, and it recently added Assured Comfort Beds. It markets them throughout the United States and Canada.
According to its web site, the company originally manufactured wood products and custom furniture under its previous company name, English Ave Industries. It began developing the SleepSafe Bed system in September 2000 at the request of the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, which required a bed that would prevent falls and entrapment for people in its group homes.
The SleepSafe Beds were approved for that office's facilities, and the company received a patent on the SleepSafe Bed system in 2002. Since then, it has added several other beds to its line, the web site states.
For two years in a row, the company was named in INC. magazine's list of the 5,000 private companies with the fastest-growing revenues in America. In December 2009, SleepSafe Beds LLC ranked as No. 1,693 on the INC. 5,000 list, which measures companies by revenue growth from 2005 to 2008. It was named Business of the Year 2009 by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
SleepSafe Beds began operating in Callaway in Franklin County on Aug. 8, 2005. By 2008, after posting a 30 percent increase in business over the year before, the owners began searching for a new location. The company had filled all available space and outgrown a 4,000-square-foot addition at its Franklin County facilities.
After a two-year search in Franklin and Bedford counties, the company found the building that suited its needs in Henry County.
"Lucky for us, this building fell into our laps. If it had been here (in Franklin County), we would have bought it. It's just unfortunate it wasn't in Franklin County," Weinschreider said.
Hallock and Weinschreider said 26,000 square feet in the rear of the new building has been separated and has its own electricity and heat. They plan on leasing that section in the near future.
Their plans are to divide the remaining 84,000 square feet and section half of it. Hallock said the front will get new offices and air conditioning. The remaining 42,000 square feet will be held for storage and future expansion.
The company owners said all 14 employees will make the switch from the present facility to the new one.
"With the exception of one employee, I don't think anyone will have to drive any longer than 10 additional minutes to work (at the new location)," Weinschreider said.
None of the employees, including the owners, plans to move from Franklin County
