May 1, 2017—Jeanne Matson, President and CEO of Starnet, and Kemp Harr discuss the group's 25th anniversary meeting in Carlsbad, California. Listen to the interview to hear Jeanne talk about the health of the member's commercial contracting businesses overall and other highlights from the meeting.
April 28, 2017—Leah Ledoux, Starnet's Director of Strategic Accounts, and Kemp Harr discuss the growth of the member's specifier team and the success of Starnet's budding strategic account program. Listen to the interview recorded at Starnet's 25th anniversary meeting in Carlsbad, California for more details.
April 26, 2017—Jackie Dettmar, VP of Design, and Mike Gallman, SVP of Commercial Carpet—both with the Mohawk Group, and Kemp Harr discuss Mohawk's Light Lab and pilot plant. This facility is a complete repurposing of the old World Carpet headquarters into a carpet design center where the top floor serves as a host location and real world showroom for customer visits and the bottom floor serves as one of the most impressive pilot plants in the industry. Listen to the interview to hear more about how Mohawk uses this facility to support it's commercial flooring business.
April 20, 2017—Brett Miller, VP of Education and Certification with the NWFA, and Kemp Harr discuss the NWFA's development of a government sanctioned apprentice program and the ongoing upgrade to their technical bulletins. Listen to the interview for more details and to hear about the workshops at last week's expo in Phoenix.
April 18, 2017—Cate Vanegas, Director of Marketing with Bona, and Kemp Harr discuss the latest stain colors and gloss levels in the hardwood flooring business. Listen to the interview, recorded at the annual NWFA expo, to hear more about the latest finish trends from the marketshare leader in the category.
April 17, 2017—Neil Poland, President of Mullican Flooring, and Kemp Harr discuss Mullican's YTD growth, their new sawn face engineered hardwood flooring line, the hardwood industry's plan to build consumer awareness about the benefits of living on hardwood floors and the movement to define minimum standards for hardwood flooring. Listen to the interview for more details.
April 13, 2017—Michael Martin, President and CEO of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), and Kemp Harr discuss the growth of the category, product trends and competition from flooring that imitates real hardwood. Listen to the interview to hear more about the category and the NWFA's annual convention.
April 11, 2017—David Snedeker, Div. Merchandise Manager over Flooring at Nebraska Furniture Mart and President of the National Floorcovering Alliance (NFA), and Kemp Harr discuss year to date business at NFM and the highlights from last week's NFA meeting in Lake Tahoe. Listen to the interview to hear more.
April 10, 2017—Vinnie Virga, CEO with Floors and Kitchens Today and Floors & More, and Kemp Harr discuss Vinnie's 5-store retail chain in the New England area and the Floors & More buying group. Listen to the interview for more information on these two flooring businesses and how they are addressing digital marketing and the home centers. Floors & More is the umbrella group name for Big Bob's Flooring and Floor to Ceiling.
April 6, 2017—Joe Lundgren, a consultant in the tile industry, and Kemp Harr discuss tile trends, channel dynamics, market growth and attendance. Listen to the interview, recorded at Coverings 2017, for more details.