MART SMART: Shaw Industries will hold its annual regional flooring market—Shaw Innovations—during the first three days of the January 2008 Atlanta International Area Rug Market. That’s a radical change for Shaw and will mark the first time the company will conduct a regional market in conjunction with another event, increasing retailer accessibility, convenience and selection. The event will take place Jan. 17 to 19 in a custom-designed gallery encompassing the entire first floor exhibit hall of AmericasMart. The manufacturer also has a 13,000- square-foot showroom— Shaw Living—on the sixth floor of the Mart, so retailers will have the opportunity to append time on both floors. Good choice for Shaw, and good deal for AmericasMart. Said Chas Sydney, senior vice president of flooring and new business development: “This historic co-staging is in direct response to key flooring retailer feedback.”

TREND?: Shaw’s return to AmericasMart might be the beginning of the renaissance of Atlanta’s dominance in the flooring market. The Mart is in the midst of a mammoth expansion (see story on page 5), a continuing process that has just added another 1.5 million square feet of showroom and exhibit space. Alliance Flooring announced it will hold its Winter Convention at AmericasMart Atlanta Feb. 23 to 26. The buying group held it’s national meeting there last year and is back to repeat the success. It is interesting to note that AmericasMart is the largest wholesale marketplace of its kind in the world, hosting 25 markets a year and six Market Wednesdays that annually attract more than 548,000 visitors from all 50 states and approximately 80 countries.

SAD NEWS: It’s more than sad, it’s pathetic. Didn’t the companies selling products to Hoboken Floors realize they weren’t being paid? And they weren’t being paid because the goods weren’t being sold, much were aging in a warehouse. Now, LiquiTec Industries has been retained by Wachovia Bank to oversee and coordinate the liquidation of the inventory and other personal property of defunct Hoboken and its subsidiary SPI Floors. The orderly liquidation of more than $50 million of flooring inventory has begun and includes tile, hardwood floors, carpet, finishes, accessories, tools and related products. It wasn’t easy bringing down a giant of this magnitude. Hoboken was the biggest with more than 20 branches and 600 employees at its peak. Some people still can’t believe it. But I maintain, companies don’t fail, people do. And they don’t have to worry about selling the inventory this time around—it will be marked down and shipped out.

DISAGREE: I take issue with a comment in an editorial of one of the industry’s trade publications. “Could it have been the biggest downturn our industry has seen in many, many years that has taken down the housing market, bringing Hoboken down with it?” Why would lagging sales in the floor covering business affect the housing market? The spate of foreclosures around the country as a result of subprime mortgages dramatically slowed the housing market and not the other way around. High energy costs, a very weak dollar against all currencies and a faltering stock market also contributed, as did falling home values and tougher lending conditions. So, I don’t think “our industry...has taken down the housing market.” As for Hoboken, it went out of business by itself, with no help from the flooring industry. I’m sure the creditors would rather Hoboken stayed in business and paid its bills. The question now is, will the Hoboken bust create a ripple effect and cause the demise of any of its suppliers? We’ll see soon enough.