Illinois Carpet One Moves to New Location

Crystal Lake, IL, March 7, 2006--Tim Gannon has come a long way since he began working at Carpet One Interiors' warehouse in 1985, according to the Northwest Herald. Gannon worked at Carpet One off and on while attending high school and college. He returned to the business as a full-time store manager after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1995. During the next eight years he learned the business, and in 2003, Gannon bought the more than 20-year-old Carpet One from owner Haig Haleblian. Recently, Gannon took another big step when he moved the business from the Carpet One Design Center, at the northwest corner of Route 14 and Pingree Road, to Virginia Road. The new location is 15,000 square feet in size. That is 7,000 square feet smaller than the old store, but it is a much better location, Gannon said. "The biggest reason we moved was to own our own building as opposed to renting, like we did at the previous location," said Gannon, who lives in his hometown of Crystal Lake. "Now we can do just about whatever we want. "We had a lot of unusable warehouse space that we did not use at the old location. "Now we are able to use our space more efficiently. It was a chance to clean up and organize the business a little bit better." Carpet One, an employer of 15, sells items such as hardwood, laminate, and vinyl flooring, ranging in price from 89 cents a square foot to $5 a square foot, as well as fabricated granite countertops. The company's showroom now is set up in a vignette style that Gannon said makes the customer experience easier and more enjoyable. "The showroom is focused on the customer's needs," he said. "If they want tile, we bring them into a section with all tile. If they want to look at hardwood, we bring them into an area that is all hardwood floors. "The previous location was more of a warehouse style, where you would be overloaded by 30 or 40 products. This location is more cozy." Kathy Repholz, a Carpet One customer for 13 years, said the new outlet was a better fit for the company. "The new location is more congruent to how they do business," Repholz said. "The other space had more of an industrial feeling to it. The new location has more personal space. That is important because people go to Carpet One because they are experts and offer really good service." Gannon said the move to the company's new location "was tedious, but only took three or four days because my staff was so helpful." "We had husbands of staff members helping out, we had local businesses helping out," he said. "It was a great environment. We never had to close our doors. We were lucky." Gannon said he did not have any more major changes planned for the business.