For Tempurpedic, it looks like no matter what store you go to, the price of the mattress itself is pretty much the same.
I went to a Brookstone store and then a Relax the Back store in my area to try them out.
The Relax the Back store was exactly the same price as tempurpedic directly.
The Brookstone stone was exactly the same price as Tempurpedic directly. At the time, I think they would give you a $300.00 coupon for other Tempurpedic accessories as well (not to be used on the mattress purchase).
No matter what, I was dealing with:
+ Price of mattress (same)
+ Price of base (same)
+ Delivery (pretty much same ~$150.00)
I am relatively certain that you could return a Tempurpedic back to the point of purchase within the 3 (?) month return window. I just decided that I would rather deal with Tempurpedic instead (I actually have another reason as well. I would be happy to tell you, if you want, via email or PM).
Ultimately, I felt that the only way to really test the mattress was at home in familiar surroundings. With Tempurpedic return policy, it seemed like a safe bet [obvious bias
]
Just to be clear, no, I don't work for Tempurpedic
Another thing that I would like to note is that right now, I have the Tempurpedic "full height base" (about 9.5 inches deep). In retrospect, I think that I should have gotten the "low height base" (about 4 inches deep, otherwise, no difference). I have already discussed it with Tempurpedic directly, and they said that they would be happy to exchange the full height base for the low height base at no additional cost to me.
The only thing that they asked was for me to wait to make sure that I was going to keep the mattress itself before calling to exchange, because they would prefer not to have to make two more delivery runs with their truck.
David