July 19, 2010—Recorded on the first day of the AmericasMart Summer Rug Show, Chas Sydney, Senior VP of Business Development, and Kemp Harr discuss the highlights of the show and the effect the economy has had on the show. Listen to the interview to hear about the current rug trends and about AmericasMart's Icon awards event.
July 16, 2010—Gary Cissell, Director of Flooring at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Kemp Harr discuss the positive flooring sales results NFM has seen in recent months. This interview was conducted at the Atlanta Rug Market. Listen to the interview to hear Gary tell our listeners details about NFM's current promotions and specifics about what's selling in the area rug category.
July 14, 2010—Industry veteran David Polley and Kemp Harr discuss the flat conditions with retailers in June and how independent retailers should view the home centers from a competitive standpoint.
July 12, 2010—Amy Chai, Senior Legal Council for the NAHB, and Kemp Harr discuss the NAHB's lawsuit against the EPA's Lead Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting (RPP) rule. Listen to the interview to hear the biggest issue is the EPA's removal of the "opt-out" provision which allowed home owners that didn't have children under six or a pregnant woman in the home to bypass the rule.
July 9, 2010—Jon Namba, a leading spokesperson for floor covering installers, and Kemp Harr discuss the impact of the EPA's new lead paint rule (called the Contractors Renovation Repairs and Painting Rule (RRP)) on floor covering installers. Listen to the interview to hear Jon give the details about the certification process and some of the grey area that is causing confusion.
July 8, 2010—Alexander Collot d'Escury, Chief Commercial Officer for Desso Carpets, and Kemp Harr discuss the company's AirMaster commercial carpet, which the company claims uses a patented process to reduce the "fine dust" particulates in rooms where it is installed. Listen to the interview to hear more about AirMaster and Desso.
July 7, 2010—Marco Levi, VP of Styron's emulsion polymer business, and Kemp Harr discuss the recent sale of Dow's latex business to Bain Capital. Listen to the interview to hear more details of this transaction, the origin of the Styron name, and Styron's business focus moving forward. Styron is a leading supplier of latex and attached cushion to the carpet industry.
July 1, 2010—David Duncan, VP of Marketing for Mohawk, and Kemp Harr discuss the key take-aways from Mohawk's recent aligned dealer council meetings. Listen to the interview to hear how their businesses are doing and what Mohawk's doing to help them grow as we pull out of this deep recession.
June 29, 2010—Misty Hodge, Web Services Manager for Shaw Industries, and Kemp Harr discuss Shaw's new service of developing or enhancing its customers' websites with a new service called Shaw Web Studio. Listen to the interview to hear more about this new service. Misty says their research shows 70% of consumers start their shopping process on the web.
June 25, 2010—Kermit Baker, Chief Economist for the American Institute of Architecture, and Kemp Harr discuss the status of our economic recovery in light of the recent downward trend in both housing sales and architectural billings in May of 2010. Listen to the interview to hear what caused this dip and where we stand today on the road to recovery.