BOYD SPECIALTY SLEEP

BOYD SPECIALTY SLEEP was founded in 1977 by Dennis Boyd, an entrepreneur who firmly believes in the health benefits of a quality night's sleep. A world class swimmer in high school and college, Boyd was often troubled by tendonitis in his shoulders - until he purchased a waterbed. The warmth of the heater and the full support for his shoulders and back made such a difference that he was able to stop taking cortisone shots.

In 1975, as a junior in the School of Business at the University of Missouri, Columbia, one of Boyd's assignments was to develop and present a marketing plan for a business. Sold on waterbeds for their therapeutic value, he put together a plan for a waterbed store. When the professor asked the class to vote on Boyd's plan, all 30 students - including the professor - gave it a thumbs down. Undaunted, Boyd visited 22 banks, who all rejected his application. Then a banker, married to a nurse who worked in a hospital where waterbed cribs were used for premature babies, approved Boyd's loan.

On November 17, 1977, Boyd opened his first store, Royal Waterbeds, in Columbia, Missouri. Then in 1980 he opened the first of six retail locations in the St. Louis, MO Metro Area.