Article Number : 6030 |
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| Date | 10/14/2010 9:55:07 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=6030 |
| Abstract | By Louis Iannaco In the Southeast, as in other regions of the country, the biggest sellers continue to depend upon the economy. Michael Barrows, vice president of residential sales for Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, said, “I’ve seen the trend going toward... |
| Article | By Louis Iannaco In the Southeast, as in other regions of the country, the biggest sellers continue to depend upon the economy. Michael Barrows, vice president of residential sales for Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, said, “I’ve seen the trend going toward carpet in living, dining, home theater. What was the steady increase in tile and hardwood has trended down. I feel most of this is due to the current economic downturn. Folks have changed their budgets. It is still porcelain tile and/or the new fast changing market over the past six months, luxury vinyl tile, in rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms and laundry areas. “At one time hardwood and before that laminates were the stronger but they have since taken a back seat,” he explained. “Again, much of it is budgetary but I see a lot of folks investing in kitchen and bath remodels, realizing that they will be staying in their homes longer so making the adjustment by upgrading still feels like the better investment and they will get a return on investment later at the time of sale.” There are two styles of carpet Barrows sees in the upturn. “First and foremost in dining, living and entertainment rooms, cut/loop patterns, whether they be of the geometrical or floral design tend to be popular while berbers are out. I believe the customer feels she is getting a more elegant look and something that gives the appearance that it’s different and is for her home and is unlikely to be in her neighbor’s house. Second would be in the bedrooms and family rooms, which are trending more to the frieze with or without color flecks. Being family friendly with very low maintenance, its popularity has continued to grow.” The newest and latest for carpet sales are the color walls, he noted, especially with the new softer yarn systems. “All three major mills are responding quickly. Mohawk and the SmartStrand yarn have really got the jump on the market. Both Beaulieu and Shaw have responded, as consumers are spending more time with family and friends in the home and the added softness adds warmth and comfort to movie or game night. The stain resistance doesn’t hurt either.” According to Missy Montgomery, an owner and secretary for Montgomery’s CarpetsPlus in Venice, Fla., “our best seller is by far laminate flooring. Quick•Step is our No. 1 seller followed by Shaw laminate. We tend to sell more hard surface products due to the fact people are concerned with replacing carpet and having that recurring cost. Also, the durability can’t be beat. We have many factors in Florida such as sand and sun fading that many parts of the country do not encounter. As owners we all have laminate flooring in our homes and that says a lot to the customer. “We also have a large area of our showroom dedicated to laminate laid on the floor and clients can see the beauty and ease of taking care of it,” she added. “The styles are tending to go more toward the country (distressed) look and the total opposite end of the spectrum, high gloss. It’s been so popular, we actually stock this product. It has the look of high-end wood without the cost and is virtually maintenance free.” Back in Georgia, Jerry Hennon, president of Carpets of Dalton in Dalton, said in broadloom he is seeing a shift to more tailored, subtle colorations. “We’re going back to, not a real formal look, but a little more formal than where we’ve been. We’ve been real casual for a while. We’re seeing people buy more tailored products, particularly in the Stainmaster and the mid- to upper end products. We’re doing very well with a multicolored product from Dixie, which features more subtle colorations called Maximum Effect. It’s more of a tone on tone product. In the lower end, polyester is ruling the roost. We’re at price/value in this economy. It’s ruling the lower to mid-end. “You still have those people who come in and want the best and they are going to pay for it,” he explained, “but right now we are getting a lot of, ‘We know it is not the time to sell, we don’t know what is going to happen two years down the road, so we don’t want to put too much investment in it.’ People are trading down a little, still some trading up, but we are seeing more trading down.” In hardwood, he noted, in the economy priced area, the top seller for Carpets of Dalton is a Blueridge plank—a 3-1/4 inch oak with a smooth face. “We also do pretty well with the wider planks, the hand-scraped type products. “We don’t do as much in laminate as we do in other products,” he added, “but we do very well with the Shaw entry-level product, Natural Values. It’s trending toward the lower gloss levels, more natural type styling. In the vinyl, all we really sell is a fiberglass backed loose lay type product. Most of the volume we do there is with Armstrong’s Initiator and Mannington’s Benchmark. “We are doing very well with ceramic tile,” Hennon commented. “We’re selling a slate look product called Mediterranean Stone from Mediterranea, which has kind of a natural stone look with pits in it. We import our tile from many different brokers, and there are the different slates, such as African slate, which is a good seller for us.” Paul Demarais of Hadinger Flooring in Naples, Fla., said, in laminate, “we don’t have any special style that is a top seller at this time, as we show several different manufacturers. Two styles we’ve done a lot of volume in has been Armstrong’s Grand Illusions and Park Avenue high gloss.” In tile, International Wholesale Tile’s (IWT) Umbria, a 20-inch porcelain that comes in four colors has been one of the store’s biggest ceramic movers, while Mohawk’s Miravista, another 20-inch porcelain available in two colors has also been quite popular. In carpet, Karastan’s Buona Vita, a 65-ounce textured Stainmaster product has performed very well for the company, as has Woodland Pass, a 56-ounce SmartStrand with Dupont Sorona offering, as well as Essential Living, a 65-ounce offering, also featuring SmartStrand with Dupont Sorona. In hardwood, a ½ X 5-inch engineered product called Forest Accents in Capri Plank/African Teak is doing very well, while from USFloors, its strand woven bamboo and horizontal carbonized bamboo, both solids, are doing quite well for the company. From Mohawk, Raschaire, a 3/8 X 5-inch hand-scraped engineered offering available in two colors has been a hot seller, while the CFS Rio Collection in tigerwood, 9/16 X 5-inch engineered product has also done well. “We sell very little resilient,” he added. “It is less than 1% of our total volume sales.” Also in Florida, Steve Elder, owner of Gainesville Carpets-Plus in Gainesville, was quite philosophical about his company’s top sellers. “I’ve seen a change in our customers since the [recession] started. Because of homes devaluing and not selling, people are investing in their existing homes. They’re actually spending on higher quality flooring and in larger amounts. The average age of a customer is closer to retirement and looking for a more permanent decoration solution. “It isn’t unusual to find ourselves apologizing to a customer when the estimates seem so high, only to find it is not offensive to them,” he explained. “I, myself have been in the business for 32 years and this is the first year for me to experience purchases of higher end items consistently. Perhaps it means Lowe’s and Home Depot are serving the individual with less to spend. I don’t know. We just don’t see many of them this year. “We sell hardwood and laminate at an equal rate,” continued Elder. “Armstrong, Mirage and Quick•Step, are our best sellers. We’ve seen an uptick on vinyl with the new Armstrong products because of the increase of quality in their construction. “Most carpets sales are based on taste, with friezes and textures in the mid to top grades selling,” he concluded. “People want performance and longevity. We’ve been removing carpets that were installed in the ’80s. Stainmaster pad, though expensive, is a product that customers like because of its quality and we can sell it with confidence knowing it will last.” Editor’s note: Space constraints did not allow us to publish every region of the country. To find out about the top selling products and styles from the Midwest, Southwest and western parts of the U.S. please visit our website, fcnews.net. |