By Matthew Spieler
DALLAS—Regional markets have been picking up steam for a few years now. This was clearly evident in Texas’ largest city, with some of the industry’s largest mills, along with a number of the area’s major distributors, taking up large amounts of space in neighboring hotels.

And despite frigid temperatures, winter storms and an economy still struggling to gain momentum, some customers drove as much as six hours from nearby states to see the latest products, merchandising and services as they prepare for what they hope will be a positive year—something many have not experienced since 2006.

While some regional markets were held last month, Dallas marked the first in a number of major cities where concurrent markets were being held and acted as a barometer for upcoming shows (At press-time, cities such as Atlanta, Chicago and Anaheim/Los Angeles were playing host to a variety of flooring market events) as well as for what might be expected as 2010 gets under way.

If Dallas was a true indication, then the industry could be in store for better times as traffic at both the large and small events was greater than many anticipated, and overall buying activity was strong, especially compared to last year’s shows.

“Dealers are starting to feel a slight up turn in business which has them feeling positive on the future,” noted Richard Abramowicz, Beaulieu’s divisional vice president, central region. “As a result, they are buying better than last year when there was a great deal more uncertainty in everything.”

The mill was highlighting the latest additions to its Bliss brand, including a Stainmaster branded line and SoftSense featuring a custom-made 3M Scotchgard formulation allowing for a no exclusions life-time stain warranty.

Patricia Flavin, Beaulieu’s senior vice president of marketing, said attendees, in general, were searching out the latest products because “they want to offer their customers new and exciting things. They want to do business and realize they need to have the latest offerings as the economy hopefully picks up this year, and we are certainly seeing that at this show.”

Like Beaulieu, executives at both Mohawk and Shaw were pleased with the overall traffic and buying at their respective regional events.


Nicki Osborn, Mohawk’s manager of public relations and advertising and residential marketing, concurred that traffic was steady and interest high throughout, especially in new products such as SmartCushion, a complementary underlayment for the mill’s SmartStrand DuPont Sorona or Wear-Dated carpets, as well as new promotional/marketing items supporting the company’s Ricko the Rhino SmartStrand Challenge last year.

Shaw’s Randy Merritt, president, was “thrilled with not only the attendance but with our customers’ positive, upbeat approach to 2010.” While the results were still being tallied, he added, “Early indications are near record numbers for both carpet rolls and hard surface pallets [sold].”

Helping to fuel the interest were a more rounded assortment of price points for its upper-end Tuftex and Anderson divisions; ScuffResist Platinum, a new protective wearlayer for Shaw’s wood products, and the announcement that all Anso nylon and ClearTouch PET BCF products now contains 25% postconsumer recycled content.

(Editor’s note: FCNews will have a full report on newest products, displays and innovations for all three mills in the next issue.)

Distributors do well

While events from the major manufacturers were the main drawing points for those flocking to Dallas, distributors that were hosting their own shows also reported no shortage of buying activity as well as optimism among the retailers.

Don Evans, vice president of sales and marketing for Swiff-Train Co., admitted some apprehension going into the event but “it turned out much better than I thought. Not only have we had some excellent dealers come in, we were able to clear out a lot of the inventory we wanted.”

As proof to how well things were going, he pointed to the company’s prize board in which a lucky dealer could win up to $20,000 in cash. “The last two years we filled up one board but this year we did two, so we’re giving away two grand prizes.”

Occupying a large section of Swiff-Train’s 14,000-square-foot showroom, was its exclusive Earth-Werks brand of resilient and wood products. Evans said on the resilient side a new luxury vinyl tile (LVT), Legacy, was making waves. The seven-color collection differs so much from existing LVT styles in terms of thickness and finish the company gave it its own display.

On the wood side, Jason Train, product manager, explained the company has traversed the globe to come up with products that look different than anything else, yet still offer the toughness and performance of the more popular species. He pointed to Prestige as an example, noting how the collection offers a full range of species in a variety of looks and finishes. In addition, Swiff-Train’s exclusive Traveler Series is designed only for dealers in the company’s trip program which rewards loyal customers with vacations all over the world.

At Adleta’s market event, the distributor had the “unexpected” benefit of sharing the ballroom with Beaulieu, creating what appeared to be one large market.

Even still, the wholesaler’s Charlie Cobb, senior vice president, said the show drew dealers from the company’s markets in nearby states. “We’ve been promoting this for months.” As such, he reported buying was not just “brisk—it was phenomenal. It was a mix of large and small orders—some huge. People came here to buy, not look. Our customers are anticipating another tough year but they are being realistic. They are more positive than a few months ago when they had a hard time selling anything.”

What helped propel the event was the help of Adleta’s suppliers, he added. “We had 22 booths and were represented by every one of our vendors. They’ve been very helpful.”

Randy Phillips and Anthony Marshall of Wilsonart attested to the show being busy. “Much more so than last year, dealers are starting to reach out and take steps. Nothing outrageous, but it’s better than last year at this time when they weren’t even moving.”

What added to their enthusiasm was some of the purchases made were “project specific, meaning it was for a job they were in the process of doing.”

Phillips seemed to sum up the overall attitude among those participating in the various regional events. “This is a huge benefit for us. We get to see a number of customers we don’t get to at other shows.”