January 12, 2017—Jonathan Witt, Senior Vice President at Oriental Weavers USA, and Kemp Harr discuss the rising price points within the area rug business, the continued shift in where consumers buy area rugs, Oriental Weaver's plans for continued investment in US manufacturing capacity and the outlook for business growth in 2017. Listen to the interview for more details.
January 6, 2017—Stephanie Coffaro, an Interior Architect, and Kemp Harr discuss Stephanie's engagement as the designer on the Surfaces trends home at this year's expo in Las Vegas in two weeks. Listen to the interview to hear more about the design trends that helped drive her material choices for this year's exhibit. Floor Focus has been a long-time sponsor of the trends hub which, this year, has changed into more of a home.
January 5, 2017—Jenny and Eric Cross, new Franchisee owners with Floor Coverings International along with Tom Wood, the President, and Kemp Harr discuss Jenny and Eric's decision to leave the corporate world and pursue owning a shop-at-home floorcovering franchise in the greater Atlanta area. Listen to the interview to hear more about what drove this mid-career decision and also, hear Tom give some background on Floor Coverings International.
January 3, 2017—Suzanne Winn, Interior Designer and Anaheim based fashion flooring retailer, and Kemp Harr discuss the Surfaces design house and speed trending breakfast that are two new programs at Surfaces that have been created to help retailers understand the latest style trends and use that information to offer their consumers the right products.
December 21, 216—John Baugh, Managing Director with Stifel Nicolaus, and Kemp Harr, discuss John's enthusiasm for business growth in 2017 in light of the pro-business climate related to changes in Washington, DC. Listen to the interview to hear how increases in interest rates make housing more expensive but could well be followed with increased wages and other growth drivers.
December 19, 2016—Gary Lanser, president of Mohawk's hardwood and laminate business, and Kemp Harr discuss Mohawk's new product introductions for 2017 in the hardwood and laminate categories. Listen to the interview to hear Gary talk about his retooled Arkansas plant and about the hardwood category overall.
December 16, 2016—Karen Mendelsohn, SVP of Marketing for Mohawk, and Kemp Harr discuss some of the subtle branding changes that Mohawk is making, as well as their Omnify digital marketing tool for independent retailers that was introduced at this year's Solutions convention last week in Dallas.
December 15, 2016—Tom Lape, president of Mohawk's residential business, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of Mohawk's new residential carpet introductions for 2017. Listen to the interview for more details and to hear Tom talk about the prospects for growth in the residential carpet sector.
December 14, 2010—Bob Murray, Chief Economist with Dodge Data and Analytics, and Kemp Harr, review his organization's outlook for construction spending in 2017. Listen to this ten minute interview to hear Bob go through all the core sectors that consume both residential and commercial flooring to get a better outlook on growth expectations for 2017. Overall, Dodge is calling for an 8% growth across all building sectors.
December 13, 2016—Vance Bell, CEO of Shaw Industries, and Kemp Harr discuss the strategy behind Shaw's acquisition of US Floors and the plans for capturing more marketshare in the future. Listen to the interview for more details and to hear Vance's outlook for floorcovering growth in 2017.