Montana Retailer Gets Major Makeover

Billings, MT, January 23, 2006--Montana Flooring Liquidators owner Jeff Barth will still be recognized in his wacky television commercials, but his store will soon undergo a major makeover. He signed a deal in December he said will open the business to the full market spectrum with extremely aggressive pricing, according to the Billings Gazette. Barth, with a background in the carpet business, started Montana Flooring Liquidators 2½ years ago. Starting out, he was sharing space, but he was hopeful about what the magic of Grand Avenue, as he put it, could do for his business. Now, the business is about to be catapulted to a new level, the highest of the four levels of relationships with its major supplier, Mohawk. AJ Construction started the tear-down work in December to ready the space for the makeover. The store is staying open during the project, and Barth expects that by early February, the business will become a Mohawk Floorz store --the first in the Pacific Northwest. He is clearly excited about it. He and his wife, Deb, flew to Nashville to see one of the Mohawk Floorz stores and loved it, the products, the pricing and the "visuals," or the attractive interior. They will be getting a similar store designed by MillerZell, a high-powered design firm for major corporations, with lots of can lights on tracks, banners and brushed aluminum. The entryway will be slate with a maple aisle leading to a circular counter. Within the 13,000 square feet, the showroom will grow to about 8,400 square feet, reducing the warehouse space to about 4,000 square feet. Barth said it was difficult to part with 4,000 to 5,000 square feet of stocking space, but, he said, "I know the power of this program." Being approved for the Mohawk Floorz program while having a building meant Barth didn't have to buy or build a larger building. He also likes that he won't have to derail his marketing into directing people to a new address. The store will be divided into departments called The Custom Shop, The Value Shop and The Back Room. Together, the concept combines "the best features of a 'stock-only' outlet store and the best features of a 'custom-order' retail store," the company's website says. Barth is most excited about the Value Shop because of the hot prices that will allow him to grow his business with landlords and builders. The Back Room will consist of all kinds of roll stock inventory. "That's my background. It's what I love," he said. Customers will still be able to come in and buy something in stock. And he is not dropping the Montana Flooring Liquidators name, just adding the Mohawk Floorz name. The new store design will, however, help customers shop more easily and expand its appeal to a broader demographic. "It's going to give Billings a tremendous taste of what it's like to deal with a first-class store only found in major metropolitan areas," he said. To get the opportunity, Barth said, Mohawk had to be satisfied with the market in Billings, with the building and with him as a business operator. "They don't just hand these out," he said. "They see I'm aggressive." Business has been good. In fact, he said, in two years it has reached the level he thought it would reach in five. "In December, we tripled what we did in December last year," he said.