Clearwater, FL, December 4, 2006--Carillon Carpet & Rugs, a family-owned and -operated business located downtown for more than four decades, has opened a $2.8-million expansion in north Clearwater, according to St. Petersburg Times.
The new, 12,500-square-foot retail store offers items including traditional flooring; contemporary, handmade Oriental and machine-made rugs; custom carpeting; ceramic and porcelain tile; exotic woods; and laminates. It also has a 4,000-square-foot air-conditioned warehouse.
Tyler Rice, son of Carillon founder Robert Rice, has been the principal owner of the business for six years. A year ago, his sister Kathie joined him as a partner and operates the new store, 29450 U.S. 19 N.
The new Carillon has eight employees, and the store manager is Nick Argiris. The single-story building is 30 feet tall, Tyler Rice said, to display the rugs, which are hung vertically.
Cleaning and restoration of Orientals will continue to be handled downtown, Rice said. The new business is strictly a retail center, he said.
Robert Rice grew up in his family's dry cleaning and rug cleaning business in Vero Beach. After graduating from college, he became a Navy pilot. While assigned to the Mediterranean, he visited Turkish rug-weaving centers and developed a lifelong interest in the art of designing and hand weaving Oriental rugs.
He and his wife, Jeanne, and their seven children moved to Clearwater in 1964, and he established Carillon, 1107 N Fort Harrison Ave., to specialize in the cleaning and care of Oriental rugs. Over the years, the business expanded to include rug restoration and retail sales in new rugs, carpeting and flooring.
In keeping with the family tradition, Tyler Rice said he travels once a year to China and India to select and buy rugs.
"I purchase 90 percent of my rugs directly from overseas," he said.
While the downtown store offers mainly traditional Oriental rugs, the new store reflects the current trend in more decorative and contemporary rugs.
