Las Vegas—For Urbanfloor, the hits just seem to keep coming. Several years after the wildly successful launch of its popular Timbertop Series of long (and extremely wide) high-end wood flooring, Urbanfloor is banking on achieving similar success with the rollout of Prima Lusso—a distinct collection of engineered wood flooring products designed to offer retailers more trade-up opportunities.
Loosely translated as “first luxury,” the term Prima Lusso aims to capture the essence of what prime-grade oak is all about. “It’s really a fantastic looking product that fills a gap in the market,” said Jennifer Colorado, operations manager, Urbanfloor. “Customers love the look of premium oak, but they don’t necessarily love the knots or the splits in some of the planks you see out there. While some people love more character in their wood floors, others just really want that clean, sleek aesthetic. Prima Lusso provides exactly that.”
Initially available in a carefully curated selection of four colors, the new collection reflects the hot trends seen in hardwood flooring today—lighter, warmer brown tones with natural, clean veneers. Prima Lusso, comprising A-B grades, also reflects another trend that has dominated the wood flooring sector for the past 10-plus years—wide and long. To that end, the 9 ½-inch-wide boards provide a dramatic footprint—especially in large, open floor plans—while random lengths up to 7 feet accentuate the graining of the oak planks.
These characteristics, according to Urbanfloor, make it especially suitable for high-end applications. “Ideally, we see it definitely being installed in nicer residences,” Colorado said. “It’s uniquely marketed for a niche consumer base that really values that clean look. And that tends to happen with very design-minded individuals with very nice homes. And because it’s oak, it’s very hard so it wears really well. That opens it up to medium- and high-traffic applications.”
Early feedback
Hardwood flooring distributors and retailers who saw Prima Lusso for the first time at Surfaces 2024 were impressed. “The collection has some really nice red oak looks,” said Oliver Barajas Duron, CEO of Bridgebay Flooring, a Bay Area, Calif.-based hardwood flooring distributor. “In the market today there’s a shortage of supply when it comes to white oak, so finding an alternative was super important. We also love the fact that the product comes in a select grade, which is some-thing that’s highly sought after in the market right now.”
There are other attributes of Prima Lusso that Duron finds appealing as well. The robust, ¾-inch-thick offering, which includes a 4mm top layer, offers retailers a product that can generate higher margins. “It’s a really high-end-looking product but with a very aggressive price point,” he said, estimating that retailers would easily be able to sell the product for as much as $10 per square foot, product only. “We would definitely place it in the high-end category. It might not be the Ferrari of hardwoods, but I think definitely it’s in the Lexus category—I’ll put it that way.”
The fact that Bridgebay has had proven success with Urbanfloor’s signature Timbertop line—the precursor to Prima Lusso—bodes well for the company’s latest launch. “We have done an incredible job with Timbertop,” Duron noted. “People in our market really like those high-end looks; with the reactive stains you can get some very unique visuals. In fact, we are working with Urbanfloor on some 15 ¾-inch-wide x 13-foot ultra-long boards for customers in our market. Nobody else has them right now.”
Prima Lusso is not just a hit out west. SSJ Floors, a Jersey City, N.J.-based wholesaler that services territories as far south as Florida, is also head over heels for the new collection. Like Bridgebay’s Duron, Esteban Mozo, owner of SSJ Floors, cited the product’s select grading and clean, clear characteristics. But what’s really going to push the product into more homes and projects, he said, is the overall thickness.
“With some of the thinner hardwood flooring products that became popular in recent years, flooring installers had to put in plywood to raise the overall height,” Mozo explained. “Many of the veteran installers and craftsmen were accustomed to the ¾-inch height to get that flush look and seal. Now, with the thickness of Prima Lusso, it alleviates issues for the rest of the trades who install the trim work, treads, etc. That’s a big deal because it gives the product a different stage to stand on. It just makes it more cost effective.”
Another plus for Mozo is customers can get their hands on the product without having to wait for months on end. “That really helps us with filling those orders,” he explained. “Even some builders or contractors who might not have been looking to spend extra money on a product like Prima Lusso realize that perhaps the cheaper stuff is four to five weeks away. With Prima Lusso we have a beautiful product right here, and it’s ready to go.”
