Spencer Wien of Marshall Flooring shows off Kalaty's hand-knotted winner, Ambrose 1002 in denim colorway.
SPECIAL REPORT -- Flooring retailers reported generally favorable results for the rug category halfway through 2023, this despite slowing retail traffic. Moreover, they expressed optimism that the third quarter will hold steady.
Following is a recap of the first half, and a look ahead.
Feizy's machine-woven Gaspar (3833F), above, and Micah collections are among the company's top lines at NFM.
David Chambers, director of flooring for Nebraska Furniture Mart, said NFM’s rug business has been performing “right on track with our planned growth for the category this year. We have also seen a nice increase in the tufted and knotted segments driving higher retails.”
NFM has enjoyed success with several collections, notably Scott Brothers by Karastan's Sirocco, Amber Lewis x Loloi Mulholland and Yellowstone, Feizy Azure, Aura, Micah, Gaspar and Cadiz collections, as well as Nourison’s colorful Prismatic featuring 3D-like designs.
At Nebraska Furniture Mart, Nourison's hand-tufted Prismatic (PRS-20) line is among the successful sellers.
Like NFM, fellow National Flooring Alliance (NFA) member Hadinger Flooring in Naples, Fla., reported that rug sales were holding steady as compared to last year. “Though our traffic has slowed, we are finding that the people coming in are ready to buy,” said Susan Hadinger, CEO. “Our numbers are holding steady.”
Hadinger’s top sellers remain transitional blues and greens. “We also tend toward the high end, so hand-knotted and hand-tufted are our strongest categories,” she said. Best sellers include Bokara (Canvas Art collection), a hand-knotted rug made from top-quality wool and viscose; and the Marble collection from Kaleen, a hand-tufted, 100 percent wool piece that comes in sizes from 2x3 to 9.6 x 13.
Hand-tufteds, including top-selling Marble design from Kaleen, and hand-knotted rugs, remain popular categories at Hadinger’s.
The rug business is currently down 3 percent year-to-date at The Rug Rack & Home Décor, Chattanooga, Tenn. But that’s not necessarily bad news, according to Miriam Thompson, co-owner. “We are pleased with this figure based on what the economic news was projecting.”
Most of Thompson’s high performers are hand-knotted or higher-end machine-made rugs. Its best-selling style—whether machine-made or hand-knotted—has been a more traditional style rug with a neutral background featuring strong pops of color. “Also selling are rugs with bold colors throughout the entire rug.” That would include Lilihan from Oriental Weavers, a space-dyed wool with nylon accents, woven on an Axminister loom. The colors and designs are traditionally Persian, but with a bohemian flare, “with bright pops of color,” Thompson added.
Traditional rugs with bold colors, including Oriental Weavers' Lilihan, are among the top performers at The Rug Rack.
Myers Carpet Company, with locations in Dalton, Atlanta, and Nashville, has augmented its rug business by adding in-house workrooms to produce custom rugs and stair runners. “The current trend has been for larger area rugs—fewer 6x9s and more 8x10, 9x12 and 10x13 rugs,” said Rick Myers, owner. “A majority of the area rugs we make are from broadloom. We sell a large amount of animal prints and wool carpet to produce area rugs.” He noted that Myers’ top seller is Deerfield (style blue), a cut-pile, 100 percent polypropylene, face-to-face Wilton from Prestige Mills.
Animal prints, such as Deerfield from Stark's Prestige Mills, and wool carpets are among the best-sellers at Myers Carpet.
Similar to Myers Carpet Company, Marshall Flooring in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, offers a wide selection of area rugs as well as custom rugs. As an enticement, it offers customers a “try before you buy” program,” which is applicable for all in-stock area rugs. “Our rug sales are strong; we’re even to last year and the year prior, which were good years,” said Matt Wien, partner, adding that Marshall Flooring has fared extremely well with Kalaty, a hand-knotted rug specialist.
The area rug business has been very strong the entire year for Carpet Exchange, with 17 locations in the Denver market. As owner Bruce Odette points out, “We are seeing the custom-made sector continuing to grow at a faster pace than other sectors in this category."
Standouts include a best-selling collection from Loloi. “Loloi’s Theory collection has continued to dominate our largest sold unit count,” Odette said. “It is outpacing other rug collections by 20%. These rugs are made of a blended polypropylene/polyester pile. They are power-loomed and made in Turkey. It is a very soft, plush pile that falls in the transitional category for rugs.”
Loloi’s machine-woven Theory collection remains a popular choice at Carpet Exchange for its textural motifs and plush pile.
SECOND HALF OUTLOOK
In anticipation of a strong second half Marshall Flooring is removing its 5 x 8 rug displays and adding more 8 x 10 arms, in line with current trends toward larger sizes. “Q3 looks positive,” Wien said. “This [changing of the display racks] will have a positive impact on our sales and allow us to hang more desirable rugs in sizes our customers are looking for.”
Likewise, Myers Carpet Company has high hopes for the third quarter as it expects positive results with steady retail and commercial rug production. “Something we are very proud of is that Stark Studio Rugs in New York approached us to represent them in Nashville,” Myers said. “After several months of discussions, a section of our showroom has been customized with new walls, signage and samples of Stark Studio Rugs that are installed. This includes all their broadloom product and everything they sell. Stark perfectly fits our brand of high-end products.”
NFM is projecting Q3 to be right on plan with growth projections. “We are extremely focused on keeping our rug assortment fresh providing a new experience each time the consumer is shopping with us,” Chambers said.
For Hadinger Flooring, this is the first year in a few years that it has not experienced a ‘summer,’ according to Susan Hadinger, who explained: “Traffic has slowed down to pre-pandemic levels. We are looking for this summer to be what our normal summers were before 2020. We are expecting that the season will pick up in October.”
Other flooring retailers, including The Rug Rack’s Thompson, expect the third quarter to be on par with the previous six months. “If we surpass the previous quarter's numbers then we will gladly accept them,” she said.
Similarly, Carpet Exchange’s Odette said the third quarter, while typically not his strongest three-month period, may be different this year. “We are seeing steady increases every month. The super soft rugs continue to do extremely well. Also, we are seeing a strong trend toward rugs with a marbling effect. More reminiscent of swirling lines that you may see in a rock formation.”
Hand-tufted and hand-knotted rugs remain strong sellers at Hadinger Flooring, with Bokara' Canvas Art collection a top selection.