January 10, 2014—Jerry Hennon, Managing Director of flooring retailer Carpets of Dalton, and Kemp Harr, discuss the company's business in 2013, what sold well and what gained marketshare, and how Hennon sees business conditions for 2014. Listen to the interview to find out what benefit Hennon gets from attending the Atlanta Regional Floorcovering Show, why he goes to Surfaces, and a little bit about his background.
January 9, 2014—Dave Snedeker, Division Merchandise Manager over Floorcovering for Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Kemp Harr, discuss NFM's rug business. Listen to the interview to hear why Dave's area rug business is outpacing many of his competitors and what he is seeing at the Winter rug show in Atlanta.
January 8, 2014—Trey Thames and Drew Hash, VP of Residential Marketing and VP of Hard Surfaces, respectively, and Kemp Harr, discuss a few of Shaw's new product introductions which were being debuted at the Atlanta Regional Show. Listen to the interview to hear more about these new products and Shaw's outlook for business in 2014.
January 7, 2014—Victoria Redshaw, Managing Director of Scarlet Opus, and Kemp Harr, discuss Scarlet Opus' growing part in the Surfaces Expo coming up January 28-30. Listen to the interview to hear more details about how Scarlet Opus forecasts trends in the commercial and residential interior furnishings business and details about its involvement at the annual Surfaces show.
January 3, 2014—Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, an author and Interior Designer from England, and Kemp Harr, discuss floorcovering design trends and her upcoming seminar scheuled next week at the Atlanta Rug show. Listen to the interview to hear more about Lady Churchill's background and the topic of her discussion.
December 20 — Santo Torcivia, an economist with Market Insights, and Kemp Harr, discuss Santo's projections for year-end flooring sales by category. Santo believes the flooring market has grown 7% in 2013 and he gives his analysis on which sectors in the U.S. grew and which sectors shrank both by surface category, price point and channel.
December 19, 2013—Laurie Pressman, VP with the Pantone Color Institute, and Kemp Harr, discuss this year's color of the year which is Radiant Orchid. Listen to the interview to hear what factors go into the color selection process and a little about the type of companies that Pantone sets up license agreements with.
December 18, 2013—Bill Bohrer, President of Wall 2 Wall, and Kemp Harr, discuss Bill's retail business in Idaho and Utah. Listen to the interview to hear more background on Wall 2 Wall as well as Bill's key take ways from his attendance at Mohawk's Solutions meeting held in Dallas last week. Wall 2 Wall is a major player in both the commercial and residential floorcovering business. They are aligned with Starnet in the commercial business and Mohawk in the residential business.
December 17, 2013—Roger Farabee, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Mohawk Hard Surface, and Kemp Harr, discuss last week's Solutions meeting in Dallas, Mohawk's premier dealer event for Floorscape and Color Center members. Listen to the interview to hear more about Mohawk's hard surface products and marketing approach for 2014.
December 16, 2013—Jim Walker, CEO with the Certified Floorcovering Installers (CFI), and Kemp Harr, discuss some of the key issues the industry is facing with regard to having enough trained installers. Listen to the interview to hear Jim talk about the lack of adequately trained installers, the status of the S600 carpet installation guidelines, and the government regulations regarding subcontractor status and healthcare insurance.