What do you want the mattress for?

Elena has been a customer of the Lázaro mattress store, located at number 184 on Calle Gran in Sant Andreu, for over fifty years. She keeps the memory of Teresa Feliu, the third generation owner of this family business and mother of Sergi Gay, the current owner, on a pedestal. "She knew how to sell like no one else and she knew everything about dealing with people, with the need to listen and advise," recalls Elena. She is chatting with Sergi because yesterday she bought a latex pillow, but she needs to change it because the new smell clashes head on with the chemical sensitivity that has been bothering her for some time. "Don't worry, we're sure to find a solution," says Sergi. "How about a fiber pillow, I think it will do you good." This is one of the keys to a business like this, the ability to understand the needs of the client, to advise them on changing their mattress, on whether their back pain could improve a little if the pillow was better fitted and, above all, always educating them on how important it is to be able to and want to rest well during their sleeping hours.

Wool mattresses have long since become a thing of the past. The photo hanging on the wall is beautiful. In it you can see Sergi's father humping wool in the street, back in the days when wool mattresses were king and every two years it was advisable to remake them because they had become deformed due to the effect of the body resting on them every night. He has known the business all his life, since he was a child, when the mountains of mattresses served as a trampoline, a trampoline –never better said– and a roller coaster. All at the same time. With the recent death of his two brothers, today he is alone in charge of the business, with the help of his son, who has already accumulated good experience carrying mattresses up and down the stairs of Sant Andreu –and wherever else–, since the large dimensions of the object often mean that it does not fit in the elevators.

But, let's see, what types of mattresses can we buy today? Easy, springs –the typical ones from Flex and Pikolin–, viscoelastic and latex. Which are the least recommendable? Sergi is very clear, the viscoelastic ones, that is, the ones we used to say made of foam. “They are the most popular in the world, the ones that come to all the mafia superchains, the ones that are the hottest because they don’t breathe well.” And what is best? The latex ones, the ones that most resemble the old wool ones. But be careful! They must always be on a box spring, because if not, they don’t breathe and, by absorbing the heat and humidity of the human body, they bloom. A master class on mattresses. Priceless.

A few days ago, Sergi found a document in the neighbourhood archives dated 1919 that reflects the order that his great-grandfather made for a wool-passing machine. This supports the fact that the shop can receive the distinction of a centenary establishment, although the family is very clear that it opened at the beginning of the century. It was at number 164 of the same street from its birth until 1992, when it moved to its current location. The grandmother, Concepción Lázaro, took over from the founder. And then the parents, Joan Gay Lázaro and Teresa Feliu. Times have changed a lot, as has the neighbourhood, Sant Andreu, which remains an oasis of village life, but which also experiences the commercial and population changes of the rest of the city. "Now it is no longer about making mattresses, but about middlemen and transporters. But above all, about advising," Sergi emphasises. The vast majority of Lázaro's clients are from the neighbourhood, but they also have clients from the rest of Barcelona and even from outside: "We go wherever they ask us!"

In addition to mattresses and pillows, they also sell bed bases, of course, and the essential protectors and covers. Nowadays, it is almost unthinkable not to put a protector on the mattress to avoid the various types of stains that can attack it. A client comes in asking for foam to fill a neck pillow that she has emptied and cleaned: "Of course, I will prepare it for you and you can come and pick it up this afternoon." At Lázaro, both those who want a new mattress and a new pillow can come in – both elements interact more than we might think – as well as those who sleep poorly and want a better quality of life. "What do you want the mattress for?", a question that is perhaps somewhat inquisitive but essential. For your own daily use? Use it up. For the guest room? Maybe a simpler one will do. And recently a recurring request: a mattress for the person who comes to take care of a parent. Important.