FLOOR ED
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Back to Work We Go!
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Margo Rodgers Locust Publisher, Fabulous Floors Magazine and Premier Flooring Retailer; Flooring retailer in Northwestern North Carolina
Here are some tips that have helped re-build our residential business. With today’s new shopper and the many Covid-19 restrictions, we have discovered incorporating some of these ideas have been very profitable.
ive years ago, I went back into retail after 30 years of being a Retailer in upstate NY for 20 years. As much as things have changed, much has stayed the same. I had the privilege of beginning my career in the flooring industry under the tutelage of industry icon the late Sonna Calandrino and her sister Lisbeth in the early 1980s. Three decades later, my husband and I and our dear friend restarted in flooring retail with a small 600 sq. ft. showroom in a sleepy little town in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains of NC. We are a minority-owned business (Cherokee Indian), with a rapidly growing Main Street and Commercial contract business. We have had to overcome challenges, figure out who we were in the community, and what products our customers look for. We learned that carrying products complimentary to flooring was a big part of our business. Just when we thought we had it all figured out… The COVID-19 Pandemic hit! While the commercial business slowed down due to stay-at-home orders and restrictions, it eventually kept moving steadily forward, adhering to schedules. On the residential side, we had to re-find our niche and re-invent our business to reflect moving forward profitably during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are some tips that have helped re-build our residential business. With today’s new shopper and the many Covid-19 restrictions, we have discovered incorporating some of these ideas have been very profitable.
82 Premier Flooring Retailer | Digital 3 2020
