March 5, 2010—Kermit Baker, Chief Economist with the American Institute of Architects, and Kemp Harr discuss the January Billings Index and the economic outlook for 2010. Listen to the interview to hear the latest thinking from this economic expert as he discusses many of the factors that have a bearing on how the economy will perform this year.
March 4, 2010—Jon Logue, Co-CEO with Alliance Flooring, and Kemp Harr discuss the upbeat tone of the membership at last week's meeting. Listen to the interview to hear the highlights of the meeting and more details about why the members are feeling good about 2010.
March 3, 2010—Dave Gheesling, CEO with the FEI Group (formerly known as FloorExpo), and Kemp Harr discuss the future outlook of the builder market for 2010 and beyond. Listen to the interview to hear the optimism he is getting from his membership and also hear about shifts in consumer tastes when it comes to flooring and size of dwelling.
March 1, 2010—John Baugh, managing director with Stifel Nicolaus, and Kemp Harr discuss the 4th quarter and year end results for Mohawk, Armstrong and Interface. Listen to the interview to hear more details about the performance of these three publicly traded flooring companies and John's outlook for 2010.
February 26, 2010—Dave Kitts, Mannington's VP of Environmental, and Kemp Harr discuss Mannington's ability to convert Olympic graphics into commercial flooring tiles. Listen to the interview to hear Dave talk about how this came about with 3M. Dave gives detailed information about the carbon analysis that was done to make sure this was truly the right solution for all parties involved. You can also watch a 4 minute 3M video on this topic by clicking on this link.
http://solutions.3mcanada.ca/wps/portal/3M/en_CA/Olympics/Home/?WT.mc_id=www.3M.ca/2010
February 25, 2010—Frank Hurd, VP and Coo with the Carpet and Rug Institute, and Kemp Harr discuss the key topics being discussed at this week's trip to Capitol Hill. Listen to the interview to hear more on their meetings with key politicians on Card Check, the Hire Act, Cap and Trade and the EPA's classification of Coal Fly Ash. Also hear more about the recent uptick in carpet production in the early part of this year.
February 24, 2010—Interior designer Erinn Valencich, Quick-Step's Celebrity Spokesperson, and Kemp Harr discuss Erinn's new role with the laminate maker. Watch the video to learn more about her microsite (www.quickstepstyle.com) and plans to use her design skills to promote Quick-Step.
February 23, 2010—Roger Farabee, Sr VP of Marketing for Unlin, and Kemp Harr discuss Quick-Step's new GenuEdge and ScratchGuard technology along with their new product introductions for 2010. Watch the video to hear where laminate flooring fits with today's consumer from one of the largest domestic manufacturers in that category.
February 22, 2010—Andy Brumlow, VP of Product Development for Oriental Weavers, and Kemp Harr discuss OW's new products for 2010. New this year, the company has expanded its broadloom offerings to include a New Zealand Wool, Axminister collection called Kensington. It is also introducing a reversible rug series called Options with 25 different pattern options. Watch the video to see and hear more about OW's business and some rug trends that Andy has been seeing.
February 19, 2010—Clint Hubbard-CEO and Jamann Stepp-VP of Sales at Home Legend talk with Kemp Harr about the business strategy that has led to solid growth in 2009. Watch the video to see and hear more about the 46 new products they are introducing for 2010. Home Legend sells cork, bamboo, hardwood, laminate and area rugs. This year they have a license agreement with Disney for area rugs and laminate. The company first started selling flooring in 1997.