Carpet One Holds International Convention In Toronto This Month

July 19, 2005
Carpet One

Carpet One, a cooperative of over 1,000 floor covering retailers from Canada and the U.S., will be visiting Toronto this month for their four-day annual Summer Convention. Carpet One expects over 1,800 retailers and vendors from the floor covering industry, among other attendees, and has already booked 4,500 hotel rooms in downtown Toronto. The Convention, which will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, will span more than 125,000 square feet of floor space and 50,000 sq. ft of meeting space in two hotels.

The entire group will be attending a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game at the Rogers Centre on Thursday evening. Friday will open with performances by Toronto-based entertainers Cirque Eloize and Michel Lauziere. Plus, there will be a special event to continue the celebration of Carpet One’s 20th Anniversary featuring entertainment from Toronto native Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra at one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Carpet One is also sponsoring city sight-seeing tours before and after the Convention. Since the Convention falls during the final weekend of Toronto’s famous Caribana Festival, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy even more of the city’s unique culture.

“We are thrilled to be traveling to Toronto for our Convention this summer,” said Evan Hackel, President of Carpet One. “Toronto is a wonderful city and because it has so many cultural events and attractions, we’ve been able to offer our Convention attendees some really exciting opportunities to experience the city.”

Because the majority of Carpet One retailers are located in the United States, the company usually holds Conventions there. Carpet One made the decision to hold a Convention in Canada to make travel easier for Carpet One Canada retailers and to facilitate more interaction between retailers and vendors throughout North America. We also want to recognize the important contributions that our Canadian members add to our entire North American community.

Charlie Dilks, who serves as both the COO of Carpet One and the President of Carpet One Canada and is based out of Carpet One’s Burlington, ON office, explains, “Our Canadian retailers often make the trip to the U.S. for Conventions, so it’s wonderful to have everyone visit us in Canada! We’re very excited to share some of the cultural aspects of Toronto and to welcome everyone to the city.” Dilks continued, “I think we are expecting even more Convention attendees this summer than usual – many of them are even bringing their families and turning the business trip into a vacation!”

Carpet One’s Convention officially begins on Thursday, July 28th and continues through Sunday, July 31st. However, many attendees are arriving earlier in the week to take advantage of the city tours and other special events that the company is offering. Some Canadian floor covering vendors are also offering special events for Carpet One members.

About Carpet One

Carpet One (www.CarpetOne.com) is North America’s largest floor covering retailer, with over 1,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The stores are known for a broad selection of floor covering products, distinctive warranties, excellent service and exclusive brand names, including Liz Claiborne Flooring and Good Housekeeping. With annual sales of more than $3.3 billion, Carpet One is the largest division of CCA Global Partners, a leading management and marketing company serving the retail and service community. Carpet One headquarters are in Manchester, NH; St. Louis, MO; Ontario, Canada; and Queensland, Australia.