This past October, Pittsburgh-based TikTok account Brent TV, an account that gained popularity by rating the perfection of Spongebob-themed popsicles, stitched a video of a man asking a question. The accounts owner, Brent Feitl, is the son of the owner of Alternative Bedding and Waterbed Services in Brentwood.

“What happened to all the water beds in the world?” asks a man in the video.

It’s an understandable question. After all, waterbeds were a staple of new-age kids of the 70s and upper-middle-class homes of the 80s in the United States. At their peak, they accounted for one of every five mattresses sold, but water beds in recent decades have lost much of that late 20th-century popularity. 

Feitl answers that original question with a minute-long video about his father’s water mattress store in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. In operation since 1992, it is the last remaining water mattress store in Pittsburgh. 

Alternative Bedding & Waterbed Service was born out of Ron Feitl’s experience delivering mattresses for his brother’s chain of water mattress stores called Dream Waterbeds, a franchise that at one point had twelve locations in western PA.

According to the elder Feitl, those original stores dissipated after a falling out between his brother and his business partner. From that experience, he was able to build up his current store, which has been running for 30 years. 

It’s surprising to lots of people that a store selling water mattresses could still be in business, but Ron knows he has a customer base.

“We have calls from all over from people who don’t have a waterbed store near them,” the elder Feitl said in a phone conversation with The Uproar.

Mr. Feitl doesn’t have much worry about the water mattress industry  He understands that a water bed is not for everyone, and for that reason, he happily says he’ll sell customers a futon, a cabinet bed, or even a pillow top mattress.  

It would seem that watching a successful chain of storefronts go under would cause a bit of fear for an owner, but not for Ron Feitl. 

“Water Beds may not be as mainstream as they once were, but we still think they’re pretty groovy,” he said.