January 27, 2012—Mara Villanueva-Heras, Vice President of Marketing for Armstrong Residential, and Kemp Harr discuss Mara's perception of her first Surfaces Expo and Armstrong Residential's new product introductions for 2012.
January 26, 2012—Chris Davis, President and CEO of the World Floor Covering Association, and Kemp Harr discuss Surfaces attendance, the number of independent flooring retailers and some of the WFCA's initiatives for 2012.
January 24, 2012—Gary Cissell, Director of Flooring at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Kemp Harr discuss current flooring sales at one of the Midwest's largest retailers. Recorded at Surfaces, listen as Gary talks about January sales and how they are up significantly from a year ago, partly due to pent up demand, as well as how store financing is helping drive sales, and how carpet sales seem to have turned around.
January 23, 2012—Eric Demaree, President of Carpet One, and Kemp Harr, discuss the record attendance at last week's very upbeat meeting in Houston. Listen to the interview to hear Eric talk about three primary topics at the meeting, including proprietary brands, sustainable merchandising systems, and how retailers can grab the customer's attention through digital online marketing, effective prospecting, and having a presence in local communities they serve.
January 20, 2012—Jennifer Mendez, VP of Government Relations for CRI, and Kemp Harr discuss new legislation proposed in Washington State (senate bill 6341) that would cost the carpet industry millions of dollars in reclamation fees. Listen to the interview for more details.
January 19, 2012—Georgina Sikorski, Executive Director for the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of this week's CARE board meeting. As part of this meeting, Werner Braun was elected board chairman. Listen to the interview to hear more details of key initiatives that CARE will focus on for the next five years. CARE's annual meeting is scheduled for April 25th to the 27th in San Diego, California.
January 17, 2012—Alex Jaurequi, VP of Commercial Carpet and International Sales, and Kemp Harr discuss why Mannington Commercial chooses to exhibit at Domotex in Hannover, Germany every year. Listen to the interview to hear who Alex meets with and why those customers buy Mannington's carpet.
January 16, 2012—Dr. Andreas Gruchow, Sr VP with Deutsche Messe, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of the Domotex Expo in Hannover, Germany. Domotex continues to be the largest international flooring show in the world, and it traditionally attracts over 40,000 attendees. Listen to the interview to hear how the show continues to evolve to attract more participation.
January 11, 2012—Scott Sandlin, VP of Shaw's Hard Surface Business, and Kemp Harr discuss the Canadian import laws which prohibit the import of products that have been produced using prison labor--even if it is voluntary. Listen to the interview to hear Scott talk about how Shaw and Anderson are reacting to the discovery of these import restrictions.
January 10, 2012—Steve Sierachi, VP of Residential Marketing with Shaw Industries, and Kemp Harr discuss Shaw's six winter market events which kick off this evening in Chicago. Listen to the interview to hear Steve talk about their anticipated increase in attendance, their show schedule and some of the product highlights for 2012.