Katz Floorcovering Urges Consumers to Buy Local
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Small businesses such as Katz Floorcovering can often provide more personal, attentive customer service than national chains along with competitive pricing. The fact that Chuck and Sara Katz have been in business for 15 years in the same Leesburg location speaks to their success in standing out from big-box competitors.
“I’d put a store in the Home Depot parking lot if they’d let me,” said Chuck. “Our service is head and shoulders above the national chains. People think their prices are better but they are not.”
Katz Floorcovering offers thousands of combinations of colors, styles and fabrics from leading floor-covering manufacturers. Katz also offers 20 years of installation experience and has dispatched installation crews across the country for all types of projects from residential to commercial to industrial.
“Installation is the most important part of any sale because if it isn’t done correctly, it doesn’t matter what the floor covering material is. We prefer to install everything we sell,” Chuck continued.
Katz Floorcovering has five full-time employees and currently has three generations of Katz family members in the business. Chuck said, “We’re the definition of a family-owned business.”
A Tough Market
Business in 2011 remained tough, limited by low consumer confidence and a depressed housing market. The majority of Katz’ business is currently in the residential remodeling market and new commercial construction.
“New residential construction has essentially dried up. Commercial construction is more active. We’re seeing architects get busier and we’re bidding more jobs,” Chuck said.
Residential remodeling is the company’s bread and butter. Homeowners who have lived in their home for a couple of years and then undertake a remodeling project are typical customers. According to Chuck, “they tend to know what they want.”
Currently, the product many people want is luxury vinyl tile. According to Chuck, it looks and acts like wood or ceramic but is lower maintenance and can get wet. Armstrong and Mannington are among the manufacturers featuring luxury vinyl tile.
“The remodeling market has gotten tougher in the last two or three years with all the negative news,” Chuck said. “As long as people hear negative news on TV, they are less likely to spend.”
According to Sara, the few months before the holidays used to be the company’s best time for sales. For the last two or three years, holiday sales have been slower. “It’s much more unpredictable now,” she said.
Give Local Businesses a Chance
Chuck and Sara would like to see more consumers support the local businesses in their communities. “We’d just like to see people give small businesses a chance, see if they can fill their needs first,” Chuck said.
“If people support their local economy, then they are protecting their own jobs,” Sara added.
Chuck points to the American Express “Small Business Saturday” campaign as an example. Through Small Business Saturday, American Express hopes to change people’s shopping behavior to the benefit of the local community, while at the same time, getting them to shop with their American Express cards.
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, shoppers who made a purchase on their American Express card with a registered small business owner received a $25 credit on their account. During that weekend in 2010, sales at small retailers from people who used their American Express cards increased 28 percent while overall sales that weekend increased 9 percent.
“We’d like to see our local leaders in Albany support a buy local campaign,” Sara said. “It could promote growth and attract more businesses to the area.”
More information on Katz Floorcovering is available at www.katzfloor.com or call (229) 889-0082.
