Mr. Sandman

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image 

David Keam, president of Best Sleep Center.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Today is the International Day of Sleep, a "holiday" established two years ago by the European Bedding Industries Association to promote the importance of shut-eye. In a recent press release, the EBIA reported that researchers at Oklahoma State University have confirmed a link between a proper mattress and a good night's rest.

David Keam, president of Best Sleep Centre (seven locations in Manitoba), is an authority on sweet dreams. Famous for his "Yoooou'll find us" tag line, Keam swears by nine hours of slumber a night -- a feat made easier by a berth befitting the Sandman himself.

"I sleep on an electronic adjustable bed with a king-size, Space Foam Restonic mattress," Keam says from his office at 953 St. James St. "I've always slept on our own product but until we moved into our new house, not always the best. It took me 15 years of hard work to even afford to buy it at wholesale."

Keam was born in Thompson but split his formative years among Winnipeg, Ontario and Tennessee. At nine, he commandeered one of the largest newspaper routes in the country, peddling the Toronto Star door-to-door. After graduating from high school, Keam sold pre-need cemetery plots, "the ultimate sleep product," he says with a laugh.

Next up was a stint as a courier delivering everything from envelopes to furniture. And that's when Keam got his wake-up call. "One day I came to the conclusion that if I was going to be carrying these huge beds up three flights of stairs, I might as well own the company."

Best Sleep Centre opened in November 1992 as DAK Sales, a name that fell flat with everybody but Keam and his parents. "It might make a person happy to see his initials in lights," Keam says, "but we came to the conclusion pretty quickly that it meant nothing to anybody else."

Funny enough, what could have been Keam's undoing turned out to be the biggest godsend of his career. The first few times Keam's unique delivery style ran on CJOB, the station was besieged with calls from listeners who wanted no part of Keam's "bedtime stories" or vowel-infused sign-offs. Nowadays, Keam can't spend five seconds hunting for his car or golf ball without some wise-acre bellowing, "Don't worry, yoooou'll find it..."

Thanks to his ads, Keam's vocal cords rank among the most rewnowned in the province -- a fact confirmed by one-in-the-know, his chum Charles Adler. "I'm not sure how it came up but at a dinner a while ago Charles told me he considered mine to be the third most recognizable local voice." And who are Nos. 1 and 2, pray tell?

"I didn't ask but I've got a feeling Charles might think of himself as first and second."

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

Pillow talk

"Hello, I'm David Keam, president of the Best Sleep Centre Inc., and if you've got a minute, I've got bedtime story No. 4 of the year, 2009..."

David Keam draws a blank when asked what his favourite, childhood bedtime story was. "You know what -- I don't think anybody ever read me any bedtime stories growing up," he says, stroking his moustache. "I'm sure on occasion somebody must have but, no, I don't have that as a childhood memory."

Keam's own children -- son Gary and daughter Myrrhanda, don't possess that same lack of recall. "No, I definitely sat down and read to my kids when they were growing up. In that instance, the stories I enjoyed most starred Curious George."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 21, 2009 F4