Las Vegas—Members and select vendors of the Floors & More group gathered here a day prior to the start of TISE 2024 for its annual convention. The theme of the event, “Supercharged,” reflected both the mood and the growth trend of the organization.
“We are not going to slow down at all; we are going to put the pedal to the metal in 2024,” Vinnie Virga Jr., vice president of Floors & More, told attendees. “By the end of the year we project we will be upwards of 125 locations. That’s even more aggressive than the growth we saw in 2023.”
Indeed, last year’s performance will be hard to surpass. Following several years of aggressive recruiting, Virga Jr. reports that Floors & More—which includes Floor to Ceiling dealers as well as Big Bob’s discount stores—achieved a significant milestone: 100 locations. This was fueled by the addition of 22 new members in 2023 alone.
“It’s the most we’ve added in a single year,” Virga Jr. said, noting the previous record was 12 in 2022. “So every year our record keeps getting beat and it looks like we’re on pace to double last year, which is a pretty big milestone.”
That begs the question: What’s driving the increase in membership? Virga attributed the growth to several factors, beginning with the one-on-one time that Virga Jr. and his father—Vinnie Virga Sr., Floors & More CEO—spend consulting prospective members prior to joining.
“At the beginning of this year we made a commitment that each of us would be ‘boots on the ground,’ going into retailer stores every single month,” Virga Jr. explained. “The fact that he and I are getting out in front of people every month traveling and going door to door, store to store and having meetings in person, has been a tremendous factor in us having our success. We’ve had a lot of phone conversations and webinars, but that’s really been exciting and a big part of our success.”
So, where is the growth coming from? According to Virga, the South is leading the charge, followed by the Midwest (the region where the group got its start), followed by the Northeast. “I can tell you we are much more diverse than we have ever been,” Virga Jr. told Floor Covering News. “The Midwest was where Floor To Ceiling and Big Bob’s were both founded, but it is no longer our largest market. Our latest numbers show 29% of our members are in the South, 28% in the Midwest and 26% in the Northeast, which has really been coming on strong. In 2024 you’ll probably see some targeted growth in the West Coast.”
In order to continue on that upward trajectory in 2024, however, members will have to navigate through hurdles in a challenging economy. After all, it’s an election year, which typically gives consumers pause. On top of that, inflation—while decelerating—is still historically high.
“I think it’s going to be a choppy year but also a great year,” Vinnie Virga Sr., CEO, told members in his opening address. To that end, he advised retail members to focus on ways to boost not only overall sales but profitability as well. He also encouraged retailers members to ramp of their workforce given the availability of job seekers today. “I think it’s a good time to upgrade your team by adding new members to your staff,” he noted.
At the same time, however, Virga said challenges lie ahead. To that end, he offered advice on how members can build sales in the current economic environment. This ranged from planning more effective private sales to pricing appropriately for profits. “How do you eat an elephant?” he asked rhetorically? “One bite at a time. You’ll need to break it into small pieces and have a plan of attack.”
Members buy in
As Floors & More retailers traverse a changing landscape, many are confident that they will be able to weather any challenges that may arise. Just ask Blair Schmoekel, CEO of Utah-based Rock Tops Surfaces, a multi-location retailer specializing in flooring, countertops and cabinets. “Vinnie and Vinnie Jr. are the reason why I joined this group,” he told FCNews. “They proactively seek you out; they respond quickly when you have a problem or challenge; and they come out to your location and spend time in your store.”
Other Floors & More members echoed Schmoekel’s sentiments. Bob Duke, owner of Maine-based Floor Magic, recalled meeting the Virgas several years ago, when Virga Sr. made the trip to Maine to spend the day with Duke to assess his business. “He spoke to my wife and me that evening and came back the next morning with a multi-page report of ways to improve our situation.”
The report included strategies on improving margins. “I was able to get my margins up without making myself look like we’re overpriced.”
In addition, Virga advised Duke to consolidate mill shipments to achieve better rates. “Floors & More is our advocate when we run into issues with vendors,” Duke said.
Duke and Schmoekel are not alone. Mike Anderson, owner of Raider Flooring, Lubbock, Texas, also credited the Virga family for providing guidance when he made his foray into retail. “I researched quite a few buying groups before I actually sat down and talked to Vinnie Virga,” Anderson told Floor Covering News. “We were looking for ways to get better on the digital marketing end of the business and what’s going on socially.”
Like so many other floor covering retailers, Anderson was having a tough time managing the normal day-to-day aspects of running a business while juggling all the “other things” necessary to expand his customer base and grow brand awareness of his store. “When you’re running a business, you don’t have time to sit around and do marketing and social media and come up with ads and scripts and so forth,” he said. “Vinnie and his team have come up with digital marketing and lead-generation programs that have really helped us grow the business.”
Floors & More nixes summer event
Las Vegas—Beginning this year, Floors & More will hold only one convention—in the winter—but still a day or two in advance of Surfaces. The decision to forego a summer event moving forward, according to management of the group, was based on feedback from the Floors & More advisory council as well as a survey of membership.
“The message was loud and clear,” Vinnie Virga, Jr., vice president, told FCNews. “By moving to a single event every winter instead of the two, we think that will make it easier for our vendors, members and friends to be able to attend and participate. Our vendors have received the news very positively because I know they’ve got a lot of shows to go to.”
With the change to one annual group gathering, according to Virga Jr., the annual convention will likely be extended by a day or two to ensure attendees get their money’s worth, so to speak. That likely means more educational sessions, roundtable discussions and, of course, special guests. But that doesn’t mean outreach/business development activities will go dormant over the remainder of the year.
“One thing that we’re going to be doing that’s new for 2024 is we’re going to have our council meet live in our corporate offices,” Virga Jr. stated. “We’re also in the process of working on what I call a ‘mastermind group’ for summer, which would be exclusive to people who are very focused on growth. That is something that we’re hoping we can launch soon, and we’re having conversations with some of our larger dealers in putting that program together.”
