Florida Retailer Opens New Store

Bonita Springs, FL, The new Taylor Carpet One store that opened its doors this past week will be managed by a man who grew up in the carpet business, according to the News-Press. Mike Boyd is from Dalton, Ga., and he said that as if it should have special meaning to everyone. "Dalton, Georgia, is the carpet capital of the world," Boyd said. "In Dalton you pump gas, you bag groceries, or you get in the carpet business." Boyd worked in the carpet plants, and learned from the ground up what it takes to make quality carpet. He'll put that experience to work in the new store, which is the fifth and largest showroom owned by the Fort Myers-based company. The $1 million building has an 8,000-square-foot showroom with a variety of ceramic tile, wood flooring products, area rugs and carpet lines. It is located in the Bernwood Business Park along Old 41 Road in Bonita Springs. Exclusive to the new Bonita Springs show room will be Karistan area rugs, Boyd said. Rugs and carpets are still a dominant share of the company's business, Boyd said, but more and more people are choosing tile or wood floors. "Carpet used to be 70 percent of sales nationwide, but it's dropped to below 60 percent of sales in the last two to three years," he said. More tile and more wood is a fashion trend in home decor, he said, but the final choice is just the personal taste of the buyer. To keep up with the competition from wood and tile, carpet makers are coming up with high-style colors and patterns in wall-to-wall carpet, he said. And they are making more stain-resistant fibers as well. Store saleswoman Ashley Overby expects many customers to be interested in the Karistan area rugs. "They are beautiful and people are using a lot of area rugs over hard surfaces," she said. Many consumers these days are investigating wood floors too, she said. "Wood isn't just a surface," she said. "It becomes part of your home." Boyd said properly maintained wood flooring can easily last 25 years or more. "Wood is renewable," he said. "Drop a knife into it, you can putty it and sand it and never know it was there." The bulk of customers for the new showroom, like the other locations in Naples and Fort Myers, are expected to be homeowners who are redecorating or remodeling. Boyd said he and his staff will be looking to expand the company's commercial sales and would like to sell to residential developers. "This area is very hot," Boyd said. "There is a lot of traffic on Old 41 and a lot of business and residential building going on in this area. "It was only a few years ago this land was a big pasture."