By Louis Iannaco
Hicksville, N.Y.—How do you shop Surfaces? Do you plan out every little detail ahead of time, or do you fly by the seat of your pants and let the show take you wherever it takes you? Do you strategically coordinate with prospects, rigidly keeping to your appointment book while hearing the constant tick-tock of the clock in your head, as if you were watching “24?” Or, do you base the amount of time you will spend at each exhibit by first checking out how attractive each booth looks?

Ever wonder how other attendees shop flooring’s biggest show? Recently, FCNews spoke to several Surfaces veterans to get their take on how they go about finding what they need for their businesses and surviving those three days in Vegas while still being able to hit the ground running once they return home.

“We shop all three days of Surfaces and never seem to have enough time,” said Sam O’Krent, president of O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center, San Antonio. “Being an Abbey member, our main purpose of attending is to spend time with vendors that we will not see at the Abbey convention the following week. This consists primarily of wool vendors and niche categories. We don’t hesitate to make a decision while at Surfaces if something strikes us as a ‘must have’ item. We have three members of our executive team attend and we spend most of our time shopping together. It’s amazing how much brainstorming we can do spending so much time together focused on the business.”

Gary Cissell, director of flooring for the Nebraska Furniture Mart, is another retailer who spends the entire three days of Surfaces shopping the show. “We pre-set our appointments with all core suppliers. We attend for three days, and allow approximately half-a-day for walking the event, looking for new ideas on display, technology, product and profit improvement. We will place orders for product at the show. We’ll attend with a strategy for each category of our business, e.g., clearance, carpet, hard surfaces, installations, commercial, service-related strategies, etc.”

Ron Katz of Harry Katz Carpet One, Mineola, N.Y., shops in quite a different way. “Without being funny, I start on the left-hand wall and work my way around the show. After years I’ve found, short of my appointments with fiber people, appointments take me on a hectic pace, zig-zagging throughout the show. It takes up too much time. Once in a while, I have to go past an exhibit, then come back to it. It seems to work. My brother, who represents our ProSource stores, and I work Surfaces for two-and- a-half days; we wait to buy most things until after the Carpet One convention.”

Arnold Graf of Montauk Carpet & Rug in Farmingdale, N.Y., is another retailer who attends the entire show. “The plan is always to see what’s offered by the mills. As of now, there are no specific items we’re looking for. Shaw’s show at Foxwoods in Connecticut comes first, then we fill the voids at Surfaces. Our president, Steve Fruchter, and myself are there to look. We set appointments when we return. He’ll shop soft surfaces and I the hard and technical information. We both have set-up appointments, but I’m looking for new and interesting products to attack new customers while also reaffirming existing relationships.”

Wendy Fried, owner of G. Fried Carpet & Design Center in Westbury, N.Y., “goes for all three days and it’s mainly to see wool products and new vendors. I look at supplies, cutting machines, hard surfaces. I don’t look at any rugs, that I do in Atlanta. I see some of the smaller nylon and poly dealers that normally I don’t get the opportunity to see. As ususal, [we] make no appointments, except with the fiber companies which I do see at Surfaces. My [colleague] Phil and I are the only ones who attend the show and normally, we don’t buy there. If there are a couple of really good one-of-a-kind roll deals we might buy them.”

Gary Titiner, president and COO of Carpetville in Chicago, said this year his staff is going to Las Vegas for all three days. “We try to knock out the upstairs portion on the first day and then we pay attention to downstairs. We don’t have any preconceived notions as to what we are seeking, however, we always try to come back with one or two solid new items that can improve our business. We basically try to start in one corner of the hall and keep moving so we can see everybody.”

“I attend the show along with our company vice president, Ann Hill,” Titiner continued. “We don’t pre-make a list of specific functions or responsibilities. However, after working together for so long, we have learned that different things may interest one of us more than the other, and we certainly have varying expertises that cause different things to catch our eye. As to buying at the show, it really depends on what it is; racks versus samples versus inventory versus other things. We make those decisions as warranted.”

Regarding appointments, O’Krent said, “We go back and forth. Some years we make them with our vendors and do our best to stay on time—which rarely works or leaves time for searching out new sources. This year, we will be making very few appointments which will give us more time to ‘browse,’ yet we may forfeit quality time with some of our suppliers. There is no substitute for face time with vendors to help secure our relationships, after all, we’re still in the people business.”

Titiner agreed with O’Krent that there are certain people you just have to see. “While we try to keep an unencumbered schedule, we make certain appointments to ensure all the parties involved will be available. There are certain people you need to see, and you want to make sure that those meetings occur. And while we always try to stay up on what currently is out there, we must keep our eyes open to new relationships. You just never know what tomorrow will bring.”