Gulf Area Flooring America Retailer Finds Bittersw
Manchester, NH, December 16, 2005--When owner Terri Seibert finally reopened her Flooring America store, Acadian Carpet in Marrero, LA, she knew things were going to be the best and the worst they had ever been.
Though Acadian would see the highest sales in its history, the sheer volume of customers only reiterated two things: unfathomable damage and long hours to help homeowners rebuild.
Only 20 minutes from downtown New Orleans, Terri, her store, and each of the members of her staff were fortunate to have come through Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed. Most only experienced minor damage and a few were temporarily displaced, but each was facing the challenges of living in a city that had come to a complete standstill.
"This is definitely something no one can prepare for," said Terri. "Suddenly we didn't have electricity, phone and internet service, or even food. We stood in line for hours just to go to the grocery store where the National Guard was only letting a few people in at a time. It was unbelievable; it still is. Things are starting to reopen, but nothing is really back to normal."
On Monday, September 19, Terri reopened Acadian Carpet and immediately started preparing for the onslaught of business from people trying to repair their damaged homes, many of whom had stopped in during clean-up the week before just to ask to be put on a waiting list for estimates.
Apart from making some minor repairs and organizing the store in preparation for the high traffic, Terri added two new vehicles for estimators and a new delivery truck with a forklift to the six vehicles Acadian already owned. She then reinforced her 22-person staff with three new employees: a credit manager, an employee for the warehouse, and an employee to help in the installation department. Next, she dedicated one of her sales staff to inputting orders into the computer so that her remaining sales staff wouldn't be bogged down with paper work. Most importantly, she called meetings with all of her employees to ask for their cooperation in working overtime and weekends.
"Everyone is extremely busy, and working really hard," said Terri. "We have estimators on the road 10 hours a day, six days a week, and we wanted to let our staff know that we appreciate their efforts and that we were all in this together."
Since re-opening, Acadian Carpet has been preparing estimates for approximately 200 homes a week. Their sales are 4 times higher than they were before Katrina, and Terri projects that sales will remain as high or increase over the next year.
"Some people say this could go on for two to three more years. Right now we are only dealing with customers in our immediate area that didn't receive as much damage as other parts of the city," said Terri. "We haven't even started seeing customers whose homes are still in the demolition stage. There are still many areas that don't have electricity."
Despite record-breaking sales, Acadian's success has been bittersweet. Long and sometimes grueling hours for both her and her husband Timmy, who heads up the installation department, have added to the irregularity of the family's life. Additionally, Terri's 14-year old daughter, Lindsey, had to temporarily move in with family friends, who also sought refuge in Lafayette, LA, just to attend school.
In addition, her 14 crews of installers are already booked through March, meaning many of her customers won't be able to complete any of their flooring repairs for four months, and maybe longer if sales continue as projected. Though a few more crews would help reduce this delay, local contractors are all booked to capacity, and Terri can't bank Acadian's reputation on crews she isn't sure will do the jobs according to Flooring America standards.
