Atlanta—After a two-year hiatus, JTG Enterprises, the parent corporation of Ted’s Abbey Carpet & Floor and Floors to Go of Anniston, Ala., hosted its annual awards banquet here on May 7. Now in its 14th year, the event honored JTG’s top-performing employees as well as its partners.
Ted Gregerson started the company 25 years ago, and today the two stores combine for $9 million in sales. Gregerson said he understands that his employees are what fuels the engine, so he created this event to reward his people—the ones who had a “spectacular” year. “We wanted to give them something to show our appreciation and recognize them,” he said.
The awards banquet has doubled in size from a 60-person event in Anniston in 2007 to an industry event in Atlanta that now includes executives and reps from key suppliers. In illustration, this year’s banquet attracted Jay Koppelson, vice president of national accounts, Mannington; and three senior vice presidents from Mohawk: Trey Thames, Jason Randolph and Kelly Oberschlake. Sales volume has also doubled in the last 14 years—more or less split evenly between the two stores on opposite sides of town.
Supplier of the Year went to distributor All South Flooring of Charlotte, N.C. The 6-year-old company was founded by the same group behind CMH Flooring Products—John Capell, Kerry Capell and Mardsen Haigh—which was purchased by Haines eight years ago. “From day one they asked us what we wanted, what we would sell,” Gregerson said. “They basically built their lines around us. As such, our business with them has continued to grow each year. They really cater to us.”
The three All South founders also received Lifetime Partnership Awards, along with industry veteran David Holt. “Holt was instrumental in us increasing our hard surface business with Mohawk,” Gregerson said. “We weren’t doing anything with Mohawk [on that side of the business] even though they were our largest carpet supplier. Holt took us under his wing back in 2014 and proved himself to be a great partner through the years. Today, Mohawk is pretty close to being our largest hard surface supplier, right behind distributor BPI.”
Jason Gregerson, a flooring advisor at the Abbey location, won the top sales award for setting a record for retail sales in 2021 at $1.5 million. On the Floors to Go side, Ben Lasslett took top honors for his $1.4 million—a record for that store.
These last two years have yielded record growth for JTG. “We saw increased traffic during the pandemic,” Gregerson said. “Lots of people were doing home projects.”
In addition, the retailer saw the average ticket go up “pretty dramatically” over the last couple of years to the tune of about 20%. “People are buying nicer carpet than years past,” Gregerson said. “We also sell a lot of laminate and have done many kitchen and bath remodels.”
The biggest challenge by far has been dealing with supply issues and price increases, Gregerson said. “But we seem to have handled that well. We keep $1 million in inventory so we stay ahead of the game.”