West Columbia mattress plant retools to help local hospitals during coronavirus
Best Mattress, a 92-year-old West Columbia, SC, mattress factory, is making and donating face shields to area hospitals amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
And the company’s showroom at 2930 Devine St. in Columbia is also now a clearinghouse for homemade face masks.
Owner Buddy Delaney reached out to the S.C. Emergency Management Division in March after reading about the shortage of personal protective equipment. Business was slow — “ quiet as a tomb,” he said — so he decided to convert to face shields after finding a pattern online.
“When you’re small, you can pivot on a dime,” he said.
Lorick Office Products donated clear plastic film, Spectrum donated zip ties and an Upstate company that wanted to remain anonymous donated the elastic.
The Upstate firm told Delaney if he was donating the shields for health care workers, it would give him the materials for the cost of shipping.
“It just shows how the country is really coming together,” he said. “Everybody is pitching in.”
The shields are being donated to four or five hospitals, he said.
For example, Lexington Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said the company has donated about 200 face shields to the hospital.
“Lexington Medical Center is thankful for all of the support the hospital has received as we work to take care of our patients, staff and community during this unprecedented time,” she said.
The factory at 713 Meeting St. has continued to keep its 15 employees on payroll despite a dramatic decrease in sales over the past several weeks, Delaney said.
Since March, the factory has product more than 1,000 face shields, Delaney said, and is making about 100 a day..
“Some of our employees made 150 at home over the weekend,” he said. “It’s just an assembly.”
The factory was founded by Delaney’s grandmother Mabel Beecham on Main Street in Columbia in 1928. In 1932 it moved to its present Meeting Street location in West Columbia and was later operated by Delaney’s father, Raymond.
With S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster allowing some retail stores to reopen — including furniture stores — Delaney hopes to reopen the Devine Street showroom soon, but with some precautions against the virus. He will abide by the governor’s requirement that limits occupancy to five customers per 1,000 square feet, or 20% of posted occupancy limits.
He also plans to perform health checks on employees and offer fresh pillowcases and sheets to customers who want to lie down on the mattresses and check them out.
“This is all uncharted territory for all of us,” he said.
In addition, the showroom has doubled as one of three area drop-off points for Seamstresses with a Purpose., a volunteer group of more than 100 people who sew cloth masks in their homes to be distributed to the elderly and others.
Delaney said the factory will keep producing face shields until the need decreases.
“I hope in the next few weeks we’ll be back to making mattresses full time,” he said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.