New owner takes over ValuMaxx

     “It’s going very well.”

     Those are encouraging words from Jim Lynn, new owner and manager of ValuMaxx Mattress in Monticello.

     Flynn currently lives in Cedar Rapids with his wife. Their children are grown and out of the house.

     Lynn took over the business in the beginning of August.

     “I researched the town and business first,” he said. “I like the small towns.”

     Flynn is no stranger to the mattress and furniture business.

     “I’ve been in the business for about seven years,” he said.

     His family moved back to the Eastern Iowa area in 2012 after living in Florida for several years selling bedding and furniture.

     “The company I worked for grew from four stores to over 20,” he said of his time in the south.

     Flynn admitted the big cities and work in Florida were too much for his family, prompting a move back to Iowa. He got a job working for Factory Direct Mattress Company, parent company of ValuMaxx.

     “I wanted to help them grow,” said Flynn of the local company.

     Now, there are multiple ValuMaxx Mattress stores throughout Eastern Iowa: Monticello, Davenport, Muscatine, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, and Waverly. Flynn said ValuMaxx is suited for smaller towns.

     After talking with the company owner, whom Flynn is real acquainted with, he said he knew this would be a good fit for him here in Monticello.

     “Rick (Jenkins, former ValuMaxx owner) was interested in selling and I knew things here were going well for him,” Flynn explained of the timing and situation.

     He said in this line of business, his motto is not to pressure customers into buying the minute they walk in the door.

     “I take a different approach,” he said. “There’s not pressure here; I don’t do business that way.”

     He said he just wants to educate people when it comes to impulse buying.

     “They shouldn’t buy their first time around,” he said. Flynn said customers looking for the right mattress need to take the time to look around, then come back and make that purchase.

     “They need to whittle out the beds/mattresses they don’t like,” he encouraged.

     Flynn said he also wants to educate people about the materials used in the mattresses, and “help guide you along the way.

     “That the service we offer,” he added.

     He said people won’t find a better price than ValuMaxx.

     “It’s made local and built local,” he said of the Toledo, Iowa factory. The foam material used in ValuMaxx’s line of foam mattresses is produced in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

     “We have a great relationship with those factories,” said Flynn. “They’re very accommodating,” he added in reference to delivery schedules.

     “The volume of mattresses coming out of the factory is incredible,” marveled Flynn.

     ValuMaxx in Monticello has room to hold about 26 beds. Flynn said he working on providing a delivery service that would operate on Wednesdays.

     “I just want to build this store to the point that I can hire someone to run it,” he said of his ambitions. “Then I can open another location.”