Our Story: 20 Mattresses, One Warehouse, and a Bet That Changed Everything
National Mattress started with a first-generation Canadian, a $50,000 loan from his parents, and a simple belief: Canadians deserve honest mattress shopping without the markups, pressure, or games.
How It Started
Rafal Kieliszek came to Canada from Poland when he was four years old. His parents — immigrants who built their lives from scratch — raised him to believe that hard work would open doors. In 2011, after graduating from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Commerce, Rafal was ready to launch his career in accounting. There was just one problem: every door he knocked on was already opened for someone else.
His friends landed positions through family connections and parents who knew the right people. Rafal's parents, newcomers to Canada who have always worked low-income jobs, didn't have those networks. When an accounting position opened at the company where his father worked — a company where Rafal had even played hockey with the owners — he landed an interview and felt confident. Weeks later, he learned the job went to the secretary's daughter, who had completed a bookkeeping program at Sheridan College.
It stung. But that rejection lit something. Rafal decided he was done relying on other people to give him a shot. He would build something of his own.
$50,000 and a Father's Faith
A chance meeting with a man in the mattress business sparked an idea. The man offered to teach Rafal the trade — how to build simple mattresses from scratch, how the components fit together, and how the business worked. The industry seemed ripe for disruption: overpriced showrooms, commission-driven salespeople, and customers pressured into purchases they weren't sure about. Rafal saw the opportunity, but he needed startup capital.
Every bank turned him down. A recent graduate with no collateral, no track record, and no connections — the answer was always no. His last option was his parents. They refinanced their family home and gave Rafal $50,000 — a sum so significant that if Rafal couldn't pay it back, his father wouldn't be able to retire until he was 95.
"I would rather give you this chance and you fail, than never give you a chance in the first place."— Rafal's father, on the day he handed over the loan
The Setback
Together, they manufactured 250 memory foam mattresses and sold them through Groupon. Rafal never saw a dollar from those sales. The man also presented a long list of wholesale clients he claimed to have — retail stores, hotels, established accounts. When Rafal started reaching out, nearly every contact was either outdated, disconnected, or flat-out wrong. The mattress contact turned out to be a con artist. Lawsuits from previous victims were piled up. With his parents' life savings on the line, Rafal managed to salvage 20 mattresses he had built himself and roughly $10,000 in equipment before walking away from the warehouse he could no longer afford.
Doing It Alone — Wholesale First
Most people would have quit. Rafal loaded those 20 mattresses into a 2,000-square-foot warehouse at 1550 Meyerside Drive in Mississauga. With no client list to fall back on, he hit the pavement — approaching retail stores and hotels across Ontario, pitching wholesale mattress supply contracts one door at a time. This is where National Mattress's wholesale roots were born. Once the wholesale business had traction, Rafal decided to open the doors to the public too.
Here's the thing that made all the difference: Rafal had never worked in a traditional mattress store. Nobody taught him how the industry "normally" operated — the upselling tactics, the commission structures, the pressure closes. He learned the mattress business by building mattresses with his own hands and studying every product on his floor until he understood what made each one worth buying or not. So he did things the way he thought they should be done: no pressure, no commissions, and never recommending a more expensive mattress unless it would genuinely help the customer sleep better. It was unconventional. Customers loved it. And those principles haven't changed to this day.
Where it all started: The original Meyerside Drive warehouse in Mississauga. Mattresses stacked to the ceiling, no fancy showroom — just great prices and honest advice.
The Warehouse Showroom: Born From Wholesale Roots
Because National Mattress started as a wholesale operation, Rafal already had the warehouse. When he opened to the public, the showroom was the warehouse — mattresses stacked to the ceiling, no fancy decor, no commissioned salespeople hovering over your shoulder. Just a massive selection, honest prices, and staff who get paid to help you find the right mattress — not the most expensive one.
Customers loved it. We'd accidentally invented a Costco-style mattress shopping experience, and every location we've opened since follows the same formula. Nothing fancy. Just lots of selection and great prices.
Over 5,000 brand-name mattresses in stock at any given time — Serta, Sealy, Beautyrest, Tempur-Pedic, and more, ready for same-day pickup or next-day delivery.
From 20 Mattresses to Canada's Fastest-Growing Mattress Retailer
What started in a 2,000-square-foot Mississauga warehouse has grown into seven showrooms across Ontario, a nationwide e-commerce operation, and recognition as one of Canada's Top Growing Companies.
Our warehouse showroom concept: walk the aisles, try every mattress, zero sales pressure. From our flagship exterior (top left) to the showroom floor (top right and bottom).
The People Behind Your Perfect Sleep
National Mattress is run by people who genuinely care about helping you sleep better — not meeting sales quotas. Our leadership team has been in the mattress industry for over a decade, and our 50+ team members across Ontario are salaried sleep experts with zero commission incentives.
First-generation Canadian, Ryerson University graduate, and self-taught e-commerce builder. Rafal started National Mattress at 23 with 20 mattresses in a Mississauga warehouse and has grown it into one of Canada's fastest-growing mattress retailers. He still personally tests new products and oversees the editorial team behind our buying guides.
David has been with National Mattress from day one — literally. A high school friend of Rafal's, David stuck with the company through the early days when there wasn't always money to pay the bills. He oversees operations, logistics, and the supplier relationships that keep 5,000+ mattresses in stock across seven locations.
Suraj joined the team in 2021 and quickly became indispensable. An active sleep expert at our flagship location, he has an exceptional ability to dissect mattress construction, compare products to competitors, and translate technical specs into plain-language advice. He leads the hands-on testing behind every product review and buying guide on the site.
What We Believe
The mattress industry has a trust problem. Prices are inflated by showroom overhead and commission-driven upselling. "Independent" review sites are often owned by the brands they review. Comparison shopping is made deliberately difficult. We built National Mattress to be the antidote to all of that.
Every sleep expert on our team is salaried — nobody earns commission. The only goal when you walk into one of our showrooms is finding the mattress that's genuinely right for you, not the one with the highest margin.
We carry Sealy, Serta, Beautyrest, Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster, Springwall, Chirofoam, Evergreen, and our own NM house brand. Unlike DTC competitors who can only sell their own product, we recommend the best mattress for you — regardless of brand.
Our warehouse model cuts the overhead that inflates prices at traditional retailers. No elaborate showrooms, no manufactured "sales." Just everyday low prices backed by a price match guarantee — we'll match and beat any competitor's price.
Free next-day delivery with live GPS tracking across Ontario, and Canada-wide shipping through our GoBolt logistics partnership. Most orders ship from our distribution centres in Dundas and North York.
Our branded delivery fleet brings free next-day delivery across Ontario, with Canada-wide shipping through our GoBolt logistics partnership.
Giving Back: Sleeping Children Around the World
The connection to this cause is personal. Rafal's father worked for a company that donated to Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) — a Canadian charity that has been giving children the gift of safe, healthy sleep since 1970. Growing up, Rafal's dad would tell him about the charity and what made it special: 100% of every donation goes directly to children in need. Administrative costs are covered by a separate legacy fund, so not a single dollar is lost to overhead.
National Mattress began donating bedkits in 2014 — just a handful in that first year. As the company has grown, so have the donations. Every National Mattress purchase now funds $40 bedkits that provide a sleeping mat, pillow, sheet, blanket, and other essentials to children across 36 countries. We match every customer donation up to $40 per purchase.
We sell sleep for a living. Making sure more children around the world have a safe place to rest isn't just a corporate initiative — it's why we do what we do.
Why Independence Matters
In the Canadian mattress market, things aren't always what they seem. Sleep Country owns Endy, Silk & Snow, Casper Canada, and Hush. GoodMorning.com — Douglas's parent company — also owns Logan & Cove and Juno. Many "independent" review sites have financial relationships with these same parent companies.
National Mattress is independently owned and operated. We don't own any of the brands we sell. We have no incentive to push one mattress over another. When we say a Serta is better than a Sealy for your specific needs — or vice versa — that recommendation is based on the product, not on which brand gives us a bigger margin. That's a distinction no DTC brand and very few multi-brand retailers in Canada can truthfully make.
Ready to Experience the Difference?
Visit any of our seven Ontario showrooms, shop online with free delivery, or call our sleep experts for honest, pressure-free advice.
