Mississippi business owner Christopher Robinson has one goal when it comes to selling  — no customer should lose sleep when it comes to buying a mattress.

Friday was a special day for Robinson. His sleep mattress store idea, which opened in November, celebrated a ribbon cutting with a large crowd gathered together outside of Slumber by J. Allan’s in Brookhaven.

What people may not know is the furniture store’s namesake was James Allan Smith, Christopher’s father. Katie Nations, program director at the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, said she worked with Christopher in the furniture store nearly two decades ago.

Robinson had a business idea to open a store which specializes in sleep and the sale of mattresses because he knew the process for buying a mattress could be complicated. His plan was to make mattress shopping simple and has done so.

“James Allan Smith was a special part of our lives for so long,” Nations said. “I know he would be proud of you. I was proud to work for the business. I’m glad today it came full circle.”

Southwest Broadcasting, Brookhaven Animal Rescue League and Gel-U Italian Ice joined Slumber in the festivities. Robinson said it was good to have the community involved in the celebration.

“The response has been good. It has been good and hopefully we are helping people sleep better,” he said. “I’m glad to see it open and getting the kinks worked out. It has been good.”

Robinson said since the opening things have been going good. Manager Liz Kerwin has stepped up and learned everything she could about mattresses to better serve customers over the last few months. Robinson said she has done a great job managing the store.

Crystal Stringer, a Sealy mattress sales representative, was present at the ribbon cutting. Don Chauvin, J. Allan’s Vice President of Operations, was in attendance for the special occasion. He is a Houma, Louisiana native.

“Slumber is a neat thing. We are able to bring a higher end bedding to the market,” Chauvin said. “It is a fresh feeling when you come in. We have been able to maximize the space. You look around you and see Sealy, Stearn and Foster and Tempurpedic. We believe in them and they believe in us. This is the only Slumber store. It was Christopher’s idea and it worked out well. It allows us a chance to offer mattresses to our furniture stores.”

He spends much of his time on the road going to different stores. J.Allan’s has furniture stores in Ridgeland, Brookhaven and Hattiesburg and their Textures,  a J. Allan’s Warehouse, stores in New Orleans and Denham Springs.

“Textures is a warehouse sale concept. It is done once a month which gives us an opportunity to create a certain excitement about it,” Chauvin said. “We try to do exciting things with maybe a food truck or a DJ. We try to make it a fun experience and once a month event. We are always looking for opportunities to grow.”