Pillow fight? Local entrepreneur gives My Pillow some competition

Minnesotans who have tried Mike Lindell's My Pillow and still ache for the perfect night's sleep can now try another locally made product, the Better Pillow. Developed by former Regis executive Rob Ribnick, the Better Pillow uses a gel memory foam called Serene Foam, cut into Z-shaped pieces.

Lindell's patented pillow is filled with shredded foam pieces that interlock. Ribnick said that Lindell's company makes a fine pillow, but his own product has the exclusive Z-shaped foam pieces. "They don't go flat," Ribnick said. "Many pillows out there are filled with pieces of foam, but no one has done Zs before. That's what makes it patentable."

No ubiquitous, early morning infomercials are planned, but a commercial for the Better Pillow is in the works. To gear up, the people at Better Pillow will be distributing 25 pillows to various firefighters, police and teachers in Sleepy Eye, Minn. Ribnick is in talks with former Sleepy Eye resident and former WCCO-TV sports reporter Ralph Jon Fritz to interview residents for testimonials.

Before putting his pillow on the market, Ribnick performed a blind test with 50 people trying out a foam pillow, a feather pillow and his Z-filled pillow. Over 40 of the testers had a strong preference for his Better

Pillow, Ribnick said.

The new Better Pillow sells for $69 and comes with a 60-day money back guarantee, although the consumer pays return shipping. The product is currently available from www.the betterpillow.com or sold locally at Sleep Sherpa, 7301 Washington Ave S, Edina.
Ribnick has sold about 2,000 pillows so far that he describes as more lumpy than fluffy. "My Pillow [Lindell's product] sells about 177,000 every month," he said laughing. "We're still working to get it in a national retailer and on Amazon."