40 YEARS OF PILLOW TALK: HOW HEATH GOODARD SURVIVED IN A TOUGH RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

It started as a tiny startup with five employees to become the "Bunnings" of the bedding industry, and Heath Goddard's bedding business may still be racking up milestones after 40 years, but he still isn't getting carried away.

"It's all rather irrelevant to me. I very rarely take a photograph of anything I've ever done. Just get on, and do it," Goddard says. That might be Goddard's wisest piece of advice, lifted from the Nike playbook; to Just Do It. Pillow Talk began 40 years ago with a structure that Goddard describes as unconventional.

Instead of forking out for high-rent supermarket retail space, Pillow Talk launched in a low-rental, large floor space area allowing the business to sink more money into marketing. Beginning with just five employees, Pillow Talk grew quickly, pushing the latest trends into the bedrooms of Australians. Pillow Talk was instrumental in bringing the continental quilt to Australia which now resides on the beds of 80 per cent of Australia.

The company now employs over 800 people and has stores all along the east coast from Cairns to Melbourne. But Goddard's biggest achievement in the last 40 years?

"Surviving!"

Business News Australia spoke to Goddard to celebrate the company's milestone, the future of Pillow Talk, and the looming threat of Amazon. Read more

David Simmons - Business News Australia - 16 May 2017