| Cork Floors Winning Small, but Devoted Following
Unique, Organic Looks Inspire Hardcore Loyalty
Manchester, NH NH (June 1, 2006) — If you imagine a bulletin board underfoot when you think about cork floors, think again. Cork floors look nothing like their classroom counterparts.
They’re beautiful, durable, extraordinarily quiet and resilient, and easily installed. What’s more, the price is on par with the typical cost of imported hardwoods or high-end laminates.
“We’ve carried cork since it surfaced as a floor covering choice about six years ago,” said Mary Beth O’Callaghan, sales manager for Flooring America of Franklin, MA. “It adds a warm, very organic, very unique look to a home. It’s still not very well known, and it’s tough to introduce to people who have never heard about it. But for the people who have experience with cork and have seen it other places, they’re sold. They come into the store asking for it, and they don’t want anything else.”
Along with winning looks, cork floors appeal to environmentally conscious consumers since it’s a highly renewable floor covering. Cork is produced by stripping the bark from cork trees every 10 years – vs. chopping the trees down. The material is anti-allergenic and anti-static, and with roughly 100 million air cells per cubic inch of material – incredibly quiet with superb insulation properties. Most of the cork worldwide is harvested from trees in Spain, Portugal and Tunisia. The material is ground up and then pressed into tiles or tongue and grove planks.
“Cork delivers a hot, fashionable look, but it’s still hard to see a trend,” said O’Callaghan. “It’s definitely earned a place in our store though it still serves a fairly small niche. But one big benefit of cork is the loyalty it inspires among the people who buy it. Cork buyers are sold on the product and the store where they bought it – and we work hard every day to be that store.”
Flooring America and Flooring Canada, with a sales volume of $1.55 billion, consist of more than 575 member-owned floor covering stores throughout the United States and Canada. Flooring America and Flooring Canada provide members with exclusive brands and warranty programs, comprehensive multi-media advertising programs, complete Showroom merchandising packages, plus training in management and sales. They operate as a division of CCA Global Partners, the world’s largest flooring group. For information on becoming a member, call Chris Ramey at 800-450-7595 ext. 2131. Flooring America and Flooring Canada logos can be downloaded at www.weintraubadv.com/fame.
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