Flooring Podcast

Frank O’Neill and the Week in the Flooring Business (34:50)

August 29, 2006—Frank O’Neill – Floor Focus magazine co-publisher, looks back at the week in the floor covering business discussing: CCA Global’s launch of The Floor Trader, a franchise, mid-size box store operation; Armstrong’s comments that it would exit bankruptcy with a “substantial” loss and that Armstrong Holding may not be dissolved; The fire at a Congoleum plant in Pennsylvania and the company’s bankruptcy settlement with Century Indemnity; Shaw’s focus on maintenance and the revisions of its warranties by calling on consumer to use CRI Seal and IICRC Certification services and; Stainmaster celebrates it 20th year.

Trivers and the Home Depot’s Floor Covering Dilemma – Part 1 (11:47)

August 28, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom, in the first part of a three-part series, discusses the status of Home Depot’s floor covering operation in the first six months of 2006 and his take on some of the core problems within the sector and its overall affects on the total company. Trivers talks about the product resets that the company announced and offers his view on the quality of those resets. He also discusses what he sees as the prime problem within the home improvement chain, that of staffing, the time it takes to install product and the entire price/value proposition. He also looks back at the company’s entry into flooring and compares it with the situation that exists today and discusses the company’s overall consumer satisfaction.

Trivers and Reinventing the Department Store & the Mall (12:41)

August 28, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom in the third part of a three-part series, discusses Federated Department Stores efforts to reinvent the department store. Trivers evaluates the changes made by the company since its acquisition of May, how the company has updated its apparel and home furnishings offerings and expanded its focus to a younger audience and how it is competing with Target and the other discounters. Trivers also discusses the future of the mall, and how malls are focusing on developing a broader range of tenants in the future.

Carpet One’s Evan Hackel and the New CarpetOne.com – Part 3 (12:55)

August 27, 2006—Evan Hackel, president Carpet One Floor & Home in the third part of a four-part series, discusses the re-launching of the new carpetone.com website, a site that will permit consumers to purchase installed carpet via the internet. Hackel discusses the interaction between Carpet One retailers and consumers via the redesigned website, his expectations for the site in both the long and short-term. Also discusses is Carpet One’s promotional plans for the site, his expectations for internet advertising in the years to come, and how co-op members can become involved in the new site.

Lew Migliore, The Industry’s Troubleshooter and the Case of the Running Carpet Dye (13:50)

August 27, 2006—Lew Migliore, The Industry’s Troubleshooter and president of LGM & Associates, discusses a problem he was called out on in the field, where it appeared that the dye in the carpet in question ran, causing a washed-out appearance in certain areas of the installation. Migliore discusses the facility managers complaint, the severity of the problem, various methods he called upon to ascertain that there was a problem and the recommended solution for the problem.

Barker on the Market

August 24, 2006—Mike Barker, Investment & Retirement Management discusses the recently released numbers showing a slowdown in the nation’s housing sector and the downside risk from a larger slowdown than was expected. Barker talks about using homebuilder and housing related stocks as a means of reading the sector, the situation created by increasing interest rates and rising levels of housing inventories and the pending problem of mortgage resets. Also discussed is the potential problem of stagflation, oil prices and the positive aspects of the market and the current economy.

Carpet One’s Evan Hackel and the New CarpetOne.com – Part 2 (12:40)

August 24, 2006—Evan Hackel, president Carpet One Floor & Home in the second part of a four-part series, discusses the relaunching of the new and improved carpetone.com website, which will permit consumers to purchase installed carpet via the internet. Hackel talks more about the research behind the development of the new site, the growing popularity of the internet as a consumer research and purchasing vehicle for floor coverings.

Mone & Calandrino – Exploring the Laminate Consumer – Part 3 (12:53)

August 23, 2006—Steve Mone, president, Kaindl Flooring USA and Sonna Calandrino, publisher, Fabulous Floors magazine, in the third part of a four-part series, discuss the findings from a Fabulous Floors/FloorRadio consumer focus group talk about how consumers research floor coverings on the internet prior to entering a retail store, some of the shortcomings of working with retail salespeople, and what laminate should evolve into.

Carpet One’s Evan Hackel and the New CarpetOne.com – Part 1 (10:56)

August 23, 2006—Evan Hackel, president Carpet One Floor & Home, in the first part of a four-part series, discusses the CCA Global Summit and the Carpet One Summer convention, which were recently held in Denver. Hackel talks about the re-launch of the carpetone.com website, which will permit consumers to purchase installed carpet via the internet, and the research to that went into the development of the new and improved site.

Floor Focus Co-Publisher Frank O’Neill and the Events of the Week

August 22, 2006—Frank O’Neill, co-publisher, Floor Focus magazine discusses: the confirmation of Armstrong’s fourth amended plan of reorganization, the structure of the new company after it emerges from bankruptcy and chairman and CEO Mike Lockhart’s statement that the company will focus on acquisitions once emergence has taken place; The naming of David Duncan and Brad Matthaidess to marketing VP posts at Mohawk; Congoleum’s new reorganization plan and the competing plan filed by insurers and bondholders. Carpet One’s new e-commerce website and; Larry Jones’ reentry into the flooring business with the launch of a FloorCo Design Center in California.