Florida Retailer a No-Frills Interior Designer

Fort Myers, FL, July 13-- Larry Landberg could add the interior decorator title to his business, but the lifelong floor covering and window treatment specialist prefers to keep it simple, according to the News-Press. No glitz. Just the basic treatment. Landberg has been consulting with homeowners for nearly 35 years on floors and windows, operating since 1978 in Lehigh Acres under the Imperial Floor Covering banner. Walk into Landberg's building on Homestead Road and you see more than 2,000 samples packed into every corner. Everything from carpet to wood flooring, laminate flooring, ceramic tile, vinyl, upholstery, custom draperies, valances, blinds, verticals and wallpaper can be found in the showroom. "Sometimes the customers get easily confused — they walk in and see so much product samples in a small area," Landberg said. "They go back and forth with their selections and usually settle on the first one they liked." Landberg has the experience and expertise and he enjoys meeting people, so eventually the Cleveland, Ohio native will make a connection and understand what the homeowners are trying to find. "Many times I basically do the same job as an interior designer, I just don't have all the whistles and bells," Landberg said. "But I've been doing this a long time and folks know and trust me. I've had people call from out of town and tell me to pick out everything, do the job and then send them the bill, never meeting with them in person." Little has changed over the years in what people want when choosing flooring. "The business today is still the same, trying to find the right product in the right price range in the right color," Landberg said. Choosing the color can be a difficult task. "You have to talk through colors," he said. "I like people to take home samples and make sure they're going in the right direction and choosing something they're happy with. You can't go wrong with any earth tone color. And green is back in style." Although the basic needs of customers haven't changed over the years, the products they want have changed. "Where things have changed is the nature of the product," he said. "For a long time, carpet was the big seller, while today I would say that ceramic tile is 50 percent of the business when it comes to floor covering. "The quality of carpet has changed considerably, even in the last 10 years. The state of the art new carpet is a nylon fiber product called tactesse. It feels like wool." Landberg said wood flooring ranks first in cost at $7 a foot while carpet pricing — he carries a large line including favorites Mohawk and Beaulieu — ranges from $13.95 to $39 a yard installed. Landberg, who lives on the Caloosahatchee River near Alva, started in the floor covering business in Cleveland, followed in Collier County and then purchased the present business — named Imperial Broadloom — from Hugh and Sue Daffecy for $2,000. "Lehigh Acres was quiet in 1978, about 3,200 people, a nice small town," Landberg said. "Today we're experiencing some major growth but that also means more business." Landberg has been in his present location for 14 years, moving from another Homestead Road site where Jack's Market is located. He has four employees, two carpet installers and two licensed ceramic tile installers. "The toughest part of my job is knowing how to correctly measure," Landberg said. "I've had one job where I added wrong and I had to absorb the mistake cost-wise." Landberg can help customers make the right choice but not everyone makes decisions based on his expert advice. "I had one woman walk through the showroom and a carpet sample fell on the floor. She looked down and said 'That's the one I want, I'll take it,' " Landberg said

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