Color Tile to Expand

Kennesaw, GA, Dec. 27--CarpetsPlus plans to expand its recently acquired Color Tile brand to 450 stores by the end of 2003. CarpetsPlus purchased Color Tile from Jim Gould, chairman of flooring distributor Misco-Shawnee in May. The flooring group currently has 310 dealers operating under the CarpetsPlus banner, 36 under the Carpet Land banner and 78 Color Tile stores. Each store will carry a mix of hard and soft surfaces, and new stores who sign on with the co-op will become CarpetsPlus/Color Tile stores. The group has planned an advertising campaign for next year, which includes inserts into newspapers, private sale offerings four times a year, monthly in-store promotions, direct mail and ads on television and radio. The group currently has total annual sales of $780 million, and it plans to add $150 million to $170 million in sales next year, with 70% of those additional sales coming from the expansion of the Color Tile brand.