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“W hen I took over the business, I wanted it to be excellence. I didn’t want it to be mediocre. I wanted to take it into the next step,” says Jeff Sherer, owner of Jasper, Ala.-based Sherer’s Flooring.
Sherer’s Flooring is one of five WFB Outstanding Retailer Award winners of 2024 who have displayed excellence in their retail businesses through stunning showrooms, exceptional customer service and clever digital tactics. Whether they inherited a family business, such as Sherer, or built it from the ground up, these retailers have grown successful companies and built impeccable reputations in their markets.
Are you a wood flooring retailer who goes above and beyond? Enter our 2025 Outstanding Retailer Awards here.
Allstate Flooring | Manhattan, N.Y.
Allstate Flooring Owner Dmitry Lyubomirsky.Allstate Flooring
Number of employees: 16
Year founded: 2008
Locations: 2
When customers walk into Allstate Flooring’s showroom in New York, they’re greeted with a cup of coffee or a glass of prosecco. The company’s minimalistic but homey atmosphere invite customers to relax and share their dreams of new flooring. “Customers come sit down on our couch like it’s their house and look at the floors like they are their own floors,” owner Dmitry Lyubomirsky says.
Allstate Flooring’s ground-level boutique showroom, designed by Vanessa Deleon, was curated to be an extension of somebody’s home and a comforting space that evokes creativity within customers. Everything in the company’s collection is high-end and curated to ensure customers are getting unique and personalized products. “We don’t just want to put something on the shelves that sells; we want to have a unique brand that only sells high-end products,” Lyubomirsky says. There are five other wood flooring showrooms within a mile radius of Allstate Flooring’s New York showroom, so he wanted to have a showroom that would capture people’s attention both while walking by and once they enter.
Chief Operating Officer Karolina Felich says the showroom is minimalistic by design: Some sample panels are on the walls, similar to an art gallery, but most are hidden away in drawers to prevent customers from getting overwhelmed. “We wanted to make sure if a customer comes in and browses they aren’t overwhelmed with the options that other showrooms have,” Felich says. “We want them to come in, enjoy their cup of coffee … get to know the vision they have for their projects.” Employees like to get a sense of what the customer is looking for and guide them through the selection process instead of showing a bunch of samples, she explains.
Lyubomirsky says his employees understand each client has vastly different needs and design preferences, so each customer is treated individually. Being able to guide customers through the selection process comes with having a knowledgeable staff, Lyubomirsky says. This is achieved with regular training sessions and workshops to improve professional skills and industry knowledge. Additionally, every new employee is assigned a mentor to help them adapt to the job and learn the necessary information.
To help customers decide on flooring, Allstate Flooring assigned all products with QR codes. Customers can scan each product and be directed to the company’s website, which shows all the information about the product—from specifications and characteristics to care tips.
Felich says by creating a comfortable showroom, knowledgeable staff, and easyto- find information on products, Allstate Flooring is able to provide customers with everything they need to invest in new flooring. “At the end of the day, it’s about giving them the best customer service possible and giving them all the knowledge about the products they are looking for,” Felich says.
Allstate Flooring's Manhattan showroom.Allstate Flooring
Atlantic Hardwoods | Portland, Maine
Jack and Kathleen McInerny pose in Atlantic Hardwood's showroom.Courtesy of Atlantic Hardwoods
Number of employees: 16
Year founded: 1993
Locations: 1
Annual revenue: $6.3 million
J ack McInerny recalls his company Atlantic HardwoodsInc. making a home delivery when his driver noticed the customer struggling to start up her lawnmower. After unloading, the driver helped start the lawnmower by cleaning its spark plug and air filter. McInerny says the customer was so thankful she bought lunch for the crew. By treating every customer with that level of care and respect, McInerny says Atlantic Hardwoods Inc. has maintained a local-business feel in its Portland, Maine, market.
McInerny originally moved to Portland from Boston to work for a lumber company. While there, he noticed a void in the market for hardwood products, so he opened his own retail shop. Atlantic Hardwoods opened 30 years ago with a focus on selling lumber and plywood. Flooring came as an afterthought, but it quickly became a large part of the company’s focus once he recognized the need for more hardwood flooring retail in southern Maine. It now constitutes more than half its annual revenue. “Our key to growth has been addressing the holes in the market,” McInerny says.
The most recent product addition is prefinished flooring. “The trend these days seems to be more consumer-ready products to provide less work in the field,” McInerny says. Now Atlantic Hardwoods provides clients with all things hardwood, whether it’s floors, countertops, trim or stairs. Having those services under one roof has allowed the company to grow.
When Atlantic Hardwood moved into its new 36,000-square-foot space in 2022, McInerny wanted to do something different with the showroom—he wanted clients to be drawn to the hardwood flooring and nothing else. He had the walls and ceiling painted black, and he installed specialty lighting to make the colors and grain pop. The company also took an idea from a local women’s clothing store called “Couleur Collection” by sorting displays by color instead of by manufacturer. Each of the wood samples are the same size to give everything a uniform look. “It’s just easy on the eyes,” McInerny says.
The new showroom idea came from the company’s previous space, which had a black accent wall with wood samples. McInerny noticed where the walls were white, samples tended to blend into the background, but on the black accent wall, samples were brought to light. When the company moved into its new space, it decided to make the black walls and ceiling central to its showroom’s design.
Local designers and architects love Atlantic’s showroom so much they bring their clients, McInerny says—a far cry from the company’s humble beginnings selling lumber and plywood three decades ago.
Atlantic Hardwood's showroom features black walls and ceilings that make the color and grain of the wood "pop."Courtesy of Atlantic Hardwoods
Number of employees: 9
Year founded: 1979
Location: 1
Annual revenue: $3 million
C alifornia Designs hasn’t focused much on marketing in its 45-year history. Instead, owner Brad Rushing says the business has grown primarily through customer referrals. The North Palm Beach, Fla.-based retailer achieves this by going above and beyond for clients and making them feel like family. “Our main route of business was just never leave a customer unhappy and doing whatever they needed us to do to give them the greatest experience,” Rushing says. “From there, they would tell their friends and their family, and we would get more business that way.”
California Designs offers floors, area rugs and window treatments. Rushing knows those large investments can be stressful, so he ensures that his employees always have happy, upbeat attitudes toward customers. Employees also practice good communication with clients, walking them through the purchasing process and answering any questions to ensure clients feel they’re in good hands. This includes giving customers their cell phone numbers so employees can be reached if any issues arise. California Designs’ showroom designer, Mari Ann Hannon, will help clients decorate their homes and find furniture to match their new floors—a service provided free of charge to ensure clients are extrahappy with their flooring choice.
After 45 years and two generations of ownership, California Designs’ marketing tactic of providing exemplary service has successfully grown its business through word-of-mouth and referrals. This approach makes clients feel more like family. “Just the other day, we had a client come in and bring us all soup, and we sat down and had lunch together and talked about their next flooring project,” Rushing says.
While this family aspect makes the company feel like a smalltown local business to customers, Rushing says behind the scenes, he has built his company to run more like a corporation. When Rushing came onto the company’s board in 2008, he wanted to streamline operations and increase productivity. This included growing the company’s internet presence, digitizing invoices, updating the logo and giving the company a cohesive look across all physical and digital platforms. “We wanted to bring a theme and sense of lifestyle to the company name that our clients can identify with and grow to love,” Rushing says.
California Designs also extends the familial aspect of the company to its employees. Because Rushing inherited the business from his father, a few of the employees have known him since elementary school, making them feel like they are part of his family. Taking care of employees and maintaining a good work-life balance takes precedence—Rushing says the company understands people have lives outside work and undergo circumstances that may keep them away from the traditional work setting. When his bookkeeper ran into some personal matters that kept her away from the office, the company moved her desk and computer into her home so she could work from home. And whenever she needed something from the office, her coworkers would travel back and forth to get her the things she needed. “This is the kind of stuff we do to help our employees feel supported,” Rushing says.
Sherer's Flooring | Jasper, Ala.
Jeff Sherer is the third-generation owner of Jasper, Ala.-based Sherer's Flooring.Sherer's Flooring
Number of employees: 15
Year founded: 1963
Locations: 1
Annual revenue: $3 million
J eff Sherer didn’t plan to enter his family’s flooring business and carry on its legacy, but that’s what happened. Jasper, Ala.- based Sherer’s Flooring has been in the Sherer family since 1963, when Jeff’s grandfather started the business. Sherer began doing flooring installation as a side job in college, and by the time he graduated, his job offers were half the money he was making in the wood flooring industry. “I came to terms with the fact that I had a business that was already making money that I could step into, expand and turn into something bigger and better,” Sherer says. “Why would I want to go work for someone else?”
Coming in as the third-generation owner in 1998, Sherer wanted to maintain the integrity and reputation of his family’s business by delivering unparalleled quality in everything they did. “I wanted to make my family proud that they’ve handed the baton off to someone who is going to show excellence,” Sherer says.
One way Sherer wanted to “show excellence” is through providing exemplary customer service, whether that means working overtime and weekends to help a customer get new flooring before a big family event or doing extra research to find a rare wood that is the perfect fit for a historical home. Sherer says he and his crew also arrive 10 minutes early to every job to show customers the company is eager to get the work done.
Achieving company excellence also comes with implementing digital trends, Sherer says. He prioritizes staying at the forefront of digital technology and social media, as he realizes how essential those tools are for enhancing customer engagement and streamlining company operations. The company engages with clients and industry leaders on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, and uses Facebook Live to demonstrate its products and services. “My opinion on social media is that it is the secondbest thing to a referral from a previous customer,” says Sherer. “We receive phone calls daily from customers saying they found us on social media.”
The company also stands out with its interactive showroom, where customers can step on the flooring or try to scratch it to see how durable it is. Sherer’s Flooring also shows customers the installation, sanding and staining process to give them a complete understanding of what will occur in their homes. “The interactive components help them to make an educated decision on what direction they want to go,” he explains.
Although he’s always updating the company with the times, Sherer never loses sight of the fact that in a small town, “reputation is everything,” and he maintains that reputation by staying true to the roots his father and grandfather placed.
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Bespoke Floors | Norwalk, Conn.
Bespoke Floors owner Lygia Lindari.Photo by Rachael Gorrie
Number of Employees: 12
Year founded: 2019
Locations: 1
Annual revenue: $2.2 million
L ygia Linardi thought it would be difficult for her to break into the wood flooring business as a woman, but she was welcomed with open arms. After working 14 years in the industry as a showroom and project manager, she opened Bespoke Floors in Norwalk, Conn., in 2019.
Linardi left her managerial position in 2018 to care for her newborn daughter but was drawn back to the industry a year later when former contacts asked to work with her again. So Linardi reached out to designers, architects and manufacturers she knew and jumped back into the industry as a retailer connecting her old contacts to jobs around Fairfield County.
In the beginning, she ran her “showroom” out of the back of her car. Linardi would assemble boxes of 20 to 30 samples and carry them into architects’ and designers’ offices. The decade of experience and contacts she made in the field positioned her business well to take off immediately. Linardi says everyone was eager to jump back into business with her once she started her business, and it snowballed from there. “It went from one client that I knew, then she referred me to a lot of people, and I ended up just getting really busy,” Linardi says.
Women designers were especially excited to work with Linardi and often referred her to other women clients. In her first year running the business out of her car, Bespoke Floors brought in $1 million in revenue, positioning her to expand the business and hire 12 employees.
Linardi says she was so lucky to see her business take off right away that she didn’t seek out work or advertise during her first year. Instead, word-of-mouth and specialty products launched her business. The only marketing she did was via Instagram, where she posted about projects she was working on and what a day in the field looked like for her. Linardi still likes to use Instagram to gauge flooring trends and will often post polls on her Instagram stories asking followers what type of species or color flooring interests them most.
A year into her new business, Linardi became pregnant with her second child and didn’t want to carry sample boxes to clients anymore, so she opened her own showroom. “Now the clients come to me,” Linardi says. Bespoke Floor’s showroom is small and simple so as not to overwhelm customers with options. “It looks more like a gallery than a flooring showroom with racks of samples. I keep it very clean and organized,” she says. If she knows a client is looking for something she doesn’t have in her showroom, she’ll create an individualized table of samples the client likes to give a more personalized shopping experience.
Working with people is one of Linardi’s favorite parts of the job. “The fun part is just helping them pick the right color, the right flooring,” Linadri says. “I love helping my clients pick the right floor for their home and for their family.”
Photo by Rachael Gorrie
