Flooring Podcast

Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill and the Week in the Floor Covering Industry

May 23, 2006—Frank O’Neill, publisher, Floor Focus, discusses: Lowe’s first-quarter earnings, comparing the company results with those of Home Depot, reported a week ago; John Rietveldt president of Tarkett's residential division decision to leave the company to join American Standard; Mohawk’s move to require maintenance by CRI Seal of Approval cleaning systems to keep warranties valid; The passing of Chico Batavia and Faus Group founder Andres Faus; The addition of Hoboken/SPI Floors to Faus Group’s distribution network; And the retirement of Lori Dowling as president & CEO of StarNet.

Bob Peoples on the Progess of CARE in 2005 - Part 3

May 23, 2006—Bob Peoples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort, (CARE) and director, sustainability, CRI, in the third part of a five-part series, discusses CARE’s recently concluded 4th Annual Conference and the some of the potential models for national, post-consumer collection and processing systems and the challenges being faced in building these networks. Peoples talks about how floor covering retailers, very likely, will become involved in these future collection systems, and some of the problems being faced in processing of post-consumer carpet.

Phil Gutierrez & Steve Silverman of Abbey Carpet – Part 1 (14:43)

May 22, 2006—From Abbey Carpet, in the first part of a three part series, Phil Gutierrez, chairman & CEO and Steve Silverman, president & COO discuss the Abbey organization, business during the year 2005 and first quarter 2006, and the company’s retail operation in Naples, Florida. Gutierrez and Silverman talk about the changes that have occurred within the retail store and how it has helped Abbey develop its programs and products.

Bob Peoples on the Progess of CARE in 2005 - Part 2 (17:23)

May 22, 2006—Bob Peoples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort, (CARE) and director, sustainability, CRI, in the second part of a five-part series, discusses CARE’s recently concluded 4th Annual conference and the growing global demand for resources that can be derived from post-consumer carpet. Peoples talks about what has in essence been the launch of a new industry, the entrepreneur members of the CARE organization and some of the products they are producing from post-consumer carpet and the end uses for the carpet that recovered by the program.

Bob Peoples on the Progess of CARE – Part 1 (16:22)

May 21, 2006—Bob Peoples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort, (CARE) and director, sustainability, CRI, in the first part of a five-part series, discusses CARE’s recently concluded 4th Annual conference and its annual report, which was presented at the conference. Peoples outlines the organization’s goals, of diverting post-consumer carpet from the nation’s landfills as he discusses the nationwide problem of carpet disposal. Peoples also talks about the volume of carpet the CARE program has diverted from landfills in 2005, and the progress it has made toward its ultimate goals and the potential growth in the demand for post-consumer carpet in the future.

AmericasMart’s Chas Sydney on the Rug Sector and the Summer Rug Market – Part 2

May 21, 2006—Chas Sydney, vp area rugs and new business for AmericasMart talks about the AmericasMart complex and the changes and additions that are underway there as he previews the upcoming Summer Market, which is scheduled for July 16-19. Sydney looks back at the rug business over 2005 and the first quarter 2006, discussing its growth and the what he sees as the transitions among some of the large and mid-sized players.

AmericasMart’s Chas Sydney on the Rug Sector and the Summer Rug Market - Part 1 (12:18)

May 18, 2006—Chas Sydney, VP Area Rugs and New Business, AmericasMart in the first part of a two-part series, talks about the AmericasMart complex and the changes and additions that are underway there as he previews the upcoming Summer Market, which is scheduled for July 16-19. Sydney looks back at the rug business over 2005 and the first quarter 2006 discussing its growth and the what he sees as the transitions among some of the large and mid-sized players.

Barker on Why the Market Tanked (35:45)

May 17, 2006—Mike Barker, Investment & Retirement Management discusses the Dow’s 214 point drop yesterday after the release of the consumer price index revealing a 0.6% increase and an increase of 0.3% in the core CPI. Barker talks about why the market seemed to be caught by surprise by the presence of inflation even thought there have been many signs since the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s last meeting. He talks about those inflation indicators as well as the announced price increase by DuPont, Dow and other suppliers and Home Depot’s announcement that it would cease furnishing same-store sales numbers. He also reacts to Home Depot’s contention that its sales are not effected by housing sales.

Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill and the Week in the Floor Covering Industry (35:24)

May 16, 2006—Frank O’Neill, Publisher, Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill discusses: Home Depot’s first quarter earnings and the company’s reported weak flooring sales during the quarter; Interface’s announced deal with Ford Motor Co. that will see Interface Fabrics supply the company with recycled seating fabrics; The Floor Focus Annual Report, from the magazine’s May issue covering market share changes by company and by product segment.

Trivers on Selling Direct & the Distribution Community – Part 1 (17:32)

May 14, 2006—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom in the first of a three part series talks about Armstrong’s recent move to sell direct to the NFA, and the expanding trend that is seeing manufacturers increasingly selling directly to larger retailers. Trivers also discusses the affect this trend is having on the distribution community, the growing volume of flooring imports from China coming into the U.S., the general health of the distribution sector in 2006 and Mohawk’s dual-channel approach in offering laminate produced by its Unilin division.