Coeur d’Alene, Idaho—The enterprising spirit of specialty flooring retailers was on full display at the National Floorcovering Alliance’s fall meeting where, despite myriad challenges—inflation, high interest rates, container shipping stoppages and geo-political unrest—nothing seemed to shake the confidence of NFA members.
Sure, when all is said and done, 2023 is unlikely to match 2022’s numbers—or, for that matter, the other pandemic-inflated years preceding it.
And yet, the mood inside the Coeur d’Alene Resort was bullish. “Yes, business is down but it’s still a good year,” Ian Newton, president of the NFA and general manager of Oxnard, Calif.-based Flooring 101, told FCNews. “We’re pretty upbeat. Even if this year is down a little bit, I think it is a great year for everyone.”
Newton and other NFA board members agreed that while top-line sales are down for most in ‘23, margins are higher as dealers are selling better goods—and therefore generating higher tickets. “There are fewer tire kickers coming into the stores, more solid buyers; so, for us, it has been more profitable,” Newton said.
On another positive note, several NFA retailers reported an uptick in business activity in the last 60 days following a generally sluggish summer. And if compared with the pre-COVID-19 years of 2018 and 2019, business this year is generally higher. “I think a lot of us are up over 2019 even though we are down vs. 2022,” said Jason Waggoner, vice president of sales, ICC Floors, Indianapolis. “Most members are on plan, and our tickets are up.”
In fact, despite the challenges, there are NFA members forecasting increases for 2023. “It can be easy to get down on yourself when the numbers aren’t where they were last year, but there were several members that I talked to who were having their second or third best year ever,” said Dave Chambers, NFA board member and director of flooring for Nebraska Furniture Mart.
DeGraaf Interiors, with multiple locations in Michigan, is among the group of retailers seeing positive gains this year. “The majority of our growth is commercial,” said Deb DeGraaf, co-owner, citing sales increases of 8%. “Retail is off, builder is off 1%. But we’re gaining market share.”
DeGraaf said the success has come despite what she called “hit-and-miss” traffic flow. “We’ll have one Saturday with nine people in our store and the next Saturday with three. Yet, our closing ratio is up this year over last year. People are coming in to buy.”
News bites
Jordan’s, which dates to 1929, is the newest member of the NFA family, having joined the group during the spring meeting in St. Kitts, West Indies. The addition of Vancouver, B.C.-based Jordan’s gives NFA another strong presence in Canada, joining Sarmazian Brothers Flooring of Ontario.
Newton said the board will be meeting with a few new prospects before the end of the year. NFA currently has 40 members after two long-term members—Sam Kinnaird’s Flooring and FCA Associates— departed. Sam Kinnaird’s sold controlling interest in its retail business to Premier Flooring. Per NFA bylaws, when controlling interest of a member changes hands, membership is terminated. Sam Kinnaird owner Jim Mudd had served as past president of the NFA and was a mentor to many.
Speaking of mentors, Bob Hill of FCA Associates, who passed away earlier this year, was remembered at the NFA meeting. “Members had a chance to reflect on the significant influence Bob Hill had on NFA during our meetings,” explained board member Jason McSwain of McSwain Carpets & Floors, Cincinnati. “Bob was always a resource for NFA. Even in the last 10 years we had always been able to tap into him as a resource.”
Other highlights from the event:
- Joining the NFA board as at-large members were Dave Cometz of General Floors, Mt. Laurel, N.J., and Scott Browne of Macco’s Floor Covering, Green Bay, Wis. Susan Hadinger of Naples, Fla.-based Hadinger Flooring was re-elected to the board.
- NFA members met with representatives of technology companies RFMS, Mobile Marketing and Roomvo to discuss innovation during a Q&A format. “It was more meant for members to elaborate,” Chambers said. “For example, what are the biggest pain points we have in our business that these tech companies can maybe either offer us a solution that they already have that we don’t know about, or—if there is enough of the membership that has experienced the same pain point—if they could develop something for us as a group that could provide some efficiency.”
- NFA has witnessed a shift to younger members bringing fresh ideas and active engagement to the group and their committees. “We’re seeing a lot of second generation, young people sitting at the table now,” Newton said. “This is what I am most excited about; a lot of energy, good feedback. The meetings get spirited but that’s what’s neat about this group. At the end of the day, we are all one group together, like a fraternity.”
Vendor/member meeting
IFC, International Flooring Co.—a Dossche family business—is the most recent vendor to join NFA, having attended the spring meeting as a sort of warmup. In Idaho, IFC touted Canyon Americas, an SPC line that is made in the U.S. “We truly believe in the Made in USA story,” said Julian Dossche, co-founder/president, noting that IFC has placed 200 displays of Canyon Americas since August.
Despite the early success, quantity is not the end game for this domestic line, Dossche said. “We’re not going to be for everybody. We’re looking to be with 1,500 to 2,000 retailers max—that’s our goal. We feel this will be a valuable backup for retailers [since it is made domestically].”
A familiar face at NFA meetings was sitting behind a vendor table. Dave Snedeker, who spent a quarter-century as an NFA retailer and past president is VP of strategic accounts for Happy Feet. As such, he was talking to dealers about products like Quick Fit, the company’s best-selling product, and making the case for why NFA retailers should make space for it. “We sell this every day, all day long,” Snedeker told dealers. “SPC is a good business; you just need to be at 20-mil or up, which Quick Fit is.”
Engineered Floors, which recently opened an LVT facility in Georgia that offers direct digital printing on all LVT flooring, is launching a pallet program for dealers in November. “The feedback coming from customers is off the charts,” said Will Young, director of national accounts. “We can win some beauty contests in the showroom with this product. The visuals in these planks look like real wood. Creating better visuals is what we do.”
Republic Floor debuted Sharc North Forest, a composite waterproof product made of 60% organic compound and 40% wood chips. In just a few shorts weeks, Sharc, with an image of a Great White shark with its mouth wide open, has made an impact, according to Rotem Eylor, CEO. Republic sold 120,000 square feet of the product to nine Los Angeles-area dealers in just seven days. “We will make big waves with this,” Eylor added.
Separately, the company, which has ties to Israel, provided five Republic trucks to the Israeli army to help in its war efforts against Hamas. In addition, Republic purchased $250,000 worth of bulletproof vests and “smart” helmets that it is donating to Israeli army soldiers. Republic also took part in a large-scale fundraising effort with Jewish groups in Los Angeles in support of Israel.
