Chicago—The impact of tariffs on flooring distribution. Policy decisions that affect business strategies. The current state of key market segments like builder, residential replacement and commercial. Stubbornly high inflation and its residual effect on the collective consumer psyche. These were just some of the hot-button topics discussed at the 2025 North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors and North American Building Material Distribution Association (NAFCD+NBMDA) convention held here this past fall.
During the convention, FCNews caught up with several NAFCD executive board members and directors to get their take on some of these pressing issues as well as the overall state of the floor covering distribution sector. Participants in the panel discussion included: Michael Wilbur, NAFCD executive director; Brian Green, 2025 NAFCD president and chief sales and marketing officer for UCX; Austin Starnes, the newly elected 2026 NAFCD president and chief operating officer at BPI; Dori Blitzstein, vice president of Roesel-Heck and 2024 NAFCD president; and Drew Mittelstaedt, president of Hallmark Floors and NAFCD supplier director. Reginald Tucker, FCNews executive editor, served as moderator.
Following are excerpts from the NAFCD roundtable:
FCNews: Brian, this is your last convention as NAFCD president. What have you gleaned from your experience in this role?
Brian Green: I think the biggest thing for me is thinking about how you “take off the hat.” How you take off your everyday distributor leader hat and focus on the good of the group. So working with Dori [NAFCD past president] and understanding how to look through the lens of every one of our customers and suppliers, and figuring out how do we provide and create value for them. So for me, it was really looking through that lens and understanding,“What does this association really mean and what does it need?” I think we’ve addressed that, and we’ve got a really good plan that I’m sure Austin’s going to execute in the future.
So it’s about looking at how you interact with members, supplier members and how you talk to other distributors, other executive board members.
Green: Absolutely. At UCX we cross a pretty large area. A lot of our peers are sometimes competitors. So again, it’s about making sure you’re having conversations about the good of this association as an entity versus what would benefit us as a company.
With regard to the vendor partners, it’s about understanding that they are truly seeing value from distribution. We say it all the time: “Consolidation’s going to occur.” Sometimes a vendor will say, “Maybe the best path to market would be for us to control our own destiny and go direct.”
But I think Austin nailed it [during the member meeting], when he talked about the value that distribution provides to manufacturer vendors. Whether that’s local expertise, credit, delivery and service—those are all things that are very difficult for them to do effectively. And it’s really cost-prohibitive when they try to.
It’s a good segue, actually. The next question is for Austin. Congratulations on your appointment as NAFCD president for 2026. What are some of your goals and expectations as you transition into this role with NAFCD?
Austin Starnes: As I move into this role, my focus is on continuing the momentum we’ve built. NAFCD brings tremendous value to its members, and I want to keep finding ways to deliver that all year long, not just during convention week. Whether it’s expanding our educational offerings, supporting the Emerging Leaders Program or strengthening our regional events, the goal is to help our members stay engaged, informed and connected throughout the year.
You’ve also seen some changes within your own organization.
Starnes: Absolutely. We’ve seen quite a bit of movement at BPI this year, and most of it has come from internal promotions. That’s been part of the long-term succession planning we’ve been working on for the past few years. Our leadership team has been preparing us for the next chapter, and it’s been rewarding to see those plans take shape. We’ve got a great team in place, and it’s an exciting time to be part of it.
Michael, during your opening remarks on day one, you mentioned that feedback from members last year initiated some changes in the NAFCD convention format this year—i.e., restructuring of the show hours and education sessions. What have you heard so far from both your distributor and manufacturer members on those changes?
Michael Wilbur: I’ve only heard positive feedback so far. I’m sure there might be some critical feedback that I’ll hear in due course. But in general, balancing the schedule, allowing attendees to have some time in the hall and some time in the sessions made it feel a little less like two exhausting marathons day after day. We feel it kind of broke up the mental energy. And the exhibit hall in particular [on the last day], right up until closing, saw good traffic. On my way to the final session, one of our vendors came up to me and said, “Usually by 1 p.m. on the last day of the show, the show floor is like a bunch of bowling alleys; you could just roll a ball down the aisles and not hit anybody.” On the last day this year the show floor was still buzzing. Again, we’ll look at the data and what everybody’s telling us [soon]. But if it works, we’ll keep doing it and we’ll keep striving every year to make it a little better.
You also shared some data during your speech regarding participation in the event. Overall attendance was up 7% from last year?
Wilbur: Yes. Because we partner with our sister organization, NBMDA, I think we had over 100 first-time attendees—even if they were from companies that have sent people before. So there’s layers of distinction between that, but we had some newbies.
Starnes: Just looking at BPI, we had three new attendees this year who have never been to convention before.
Wilbur: So that’s 103!
During the general session on opening day, Michael alluded the “800 lb. gorilla” in the room—the subject of tariffs. How are each of you, respectively, dealing with tariffs today? And what are your plans for the worst-case scenario?
Dori Blitzstein: Given what we heard from Brian Beaulieu in the ITR Economics session, we are certainly thinking about best ways to position our company with competitively priced products. The easy route is to absorb those extra costs and maintain the business that we’ve built. The challenging route is to share the costs with our customers, and with that comes a lot of educating and explaining. Service, stock levels and ease of delivery become more important conversations to us when we take pricing out of the equation.
Starnes: We stay on top of the tariff announcements as soon as they’re released and evaluate how they affect our product categories. From there, we determine our strategy and communicate any changes to our customers as quickly as possible. Even in fast-moving situations, we try to maintain a 30-day notification window so our customers have time to plan.
Green: We try to partner with a lot of national brands that are domestic. We also have our own brands, and we have a sourcing team that has direct factory relationships. So for us, it’s making sure we work with those factories to ensure if they have to make a quick decision to move out of a particular country, we understand, “Hey, is the quality going to be there? Is it going to be as consistent as it has been?”
Do you foresee a shift in how you source or who you source from in terms of your existing vendor lineup?
Blitzstein: Moving out of China is key and has been our goal. Over the past few years, our manufacturers got ahead of the tariffs and moved countries. However, when transitioning from one country to another, even if the colors remain the same in a product line, the clicking mechanisms change and the sheen levels change. It becomes a challenge to distributors inventorying products. So yes, our suppliers are sourcing from different countries. We can’t avoid imported products completely as they provide the best price and the consumer is shopping for flooring. We must remain competitive. Are we looking for domestic products as well? Of course. But finding USA products, specifically glue-down, has been problematic.
Starnes: We’ve spent the last few years intentionally onshoring where we can, and at this point about 65% of our products are sourced in the U.S. The remaining 35% is imported, and we’ve moved away from China. The hard part now is staying current on what’s happening in different regions and understanding how new tariffs impact the business. It takes constant attention to protect margins and stay competitive.
Green: It’s a bit like chasing a ghost, trying to assume what the next country is that’s not going to be affected. As we’ve seen, that can dramatically change in a matter of weeks. So trying to stay consistent in inconsistent times is very difficult. It’s hard to gauge what you should pass along or absorb and still be market relevant and profitable.
Plus, you have products on the water that by the time they hit U.S. shores can be a different cost. How do you juggle all of that?
Blitzstein: It’s difficult. We make strategic buying decisions and plan to increase margins through container purchasing only to learn that the container prices are not what we thought they would be. Do we continue to absorb the tariffs? Do we continue to lower our margins? What is our break-even point? Are we allowed to make money? These are the questions we ask ourselves. These are the topics that weigh in on how we determine our pricing. We compete against distributors purchasing 10 containers for every one we purchase. They have lower costs on the same products based on their buying habits. There’s no good answer as to how we juggle the pricing wars as tariffs are imposed. But we do it. Somehow we survive.
Drew, from your position as a supplier, how are you handling the issue as you deal with your manufacturing partners overseas?
Drew Mittelstaedt: We are the manufacturing partner. Tony [Pan] moved the company almost a dozen years ago. We now manufacture in Vietnam and Cambodia, and we have invested tens of millions of dollars in a new cabinet factory in Vietnam—you can’t just pick that up and move it in short order. So we are where we are; we’ve done our best to increase our inventories and efficiencies in anticipation that these rates are going to go up. We’re just going to have to deal with it. As for the domestic manufacturers, they’re not safe from these increases, either, because many of their supplies are coming from overseas as well. So all boats will rise with this tide, and the consumer is going to pay more.
Has all of this impacted the change in your makeup of products that you offer?
Mittelstaedt: We haven’t changed our recipe because we’ve always put out a quality product, but we have added laminate to our offering to provide another viable price point. We’re not cheap. We’ve always offered better goods at an affordable price and we’re not changing that. That’s what got us here.
Coming out of the Brian Beaulieu economic presentation, he offered some bullet points on how industry members can be more competitive amid uncertainty and changes in the marketplace. Chief among them is knowing your competitive advantages. Bracing for higher labor costs was another big one. He also talked about diversifying for success. Any one of these goals, objectives or to-dos resonate with you that you’re going to be focusing on over the medium to long term?
Green: Looking at our competitive advantages—and I don’t want to just speak for UCX, but just all of the distribution partners that we represent—is truly understanding how we can support our vendor partners. That’s what vendors want—they want really good distribution partners that are solid and they can depend on.
There’s been a lot of private equity that’s entered this space, and with that a lot of uncertainty. So we’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of companies that are privately owned, family owned, there’s also ESOP companies where all the individuals own a piece of the pie.
At the end of the day it’s about staying relevant and being financially prudent through these challenging times, to be a partner for the vendors. Because when you have challenges with distribution partners that go away, that opens the possibility for the vendors to try to sell direct.
Mittelstaedt: The “partnership” term has been used for years and, sadly, much of its meaning has been lost. As a vendor, our partnerships have never been more important. We need to rely on each other. And if we don’t, we’re in trouble.
Anyone here focusing on diversifying, either via the market segments you serve or the products you carry?
Starnes: When you look at our portfolio (tile, hardwood, laminate and resilient), we already have a pretty balanced product mix. We’ve also put a lot of energy into growing our commercial segment over the last several years. But we’re not focused on just one area. We’re working to grow across all of our channels—builder, remodel and commercial—so we stay well-rounded and positioned for long-term success.
Another point Beaulieu mentioned was the prospect of higher labor rates and the importance of “recession proofing” your business. Is it realistic to completely recession proof your business amid these challenges?
Blitzstein: The best way to stay afloat is to run lean and mean and get the job done. Improving operational efficiencies is key. Leaning on commercial business and helping retailers in their own pivots. Minimizing unnecessary expenses and building a bank for preparedness in the future.
Starnes: For us, a big part of that is embracing technology and being willing to evolve. We can’t be doing the exact same things three years from now that we’re doing today. We have to keep looking for smart ways to innovate and use those tools to gain an advantage.
Last question: Despite the challenges we’re facing currently, Brian Beaulieu forecasts that the next 2-3 years will actually be good for the industry. Can you share the outlook for your respective businesses over the short to medium term and longer term? Did you hear anything from the presentation that either colored that outlook or changed your forecast heading into the new year?
Starnes: At BPI, we’re optimistic about what’s ahead. We know the next couple of years will still require hard work, but we feel good about our direction. Internally, we’ve talked a lot about 2026, and part of our strategy is focused on taking market share in a market that isn’t expected to grow dramatically. That means being intentional, staying close to our customers, and looking for smart opportunities to expand.
Blitzstein: We have one motto, one strategy that we embrace, and that is to stay positive. We can’t control the things that we can’t control. We need to focus on the challenges we’re faced with and then do our best to push through them and be resilient. All we can do is set a path and stay on it.
Green: It’s interesting when you look at some of the data that was presented during the economic session. If you look back at 2020, we all know what happened. The flooring business dropped 40% in basically two and a half, three months, depending upon where you were. And then you had an amazing rebound in 2021 and 2022. Generally speaking, a floor covering purchase happens every seven years, so we’ve been trying to figure out how much demand was actually pulled forward in those pandemic years.
Over the last two or three years, you heard a lot of people say in the second half, Q3, Q4, we’re going to see a pop. And it really never came to be—it was a little fizzle. I think next year will probably be a carbon copy of this year. I think there’ll be a little bit more positive customer sentiment as everyone understands what’s happening with these tariffs. And then there’ll be a little bit more stability in people’s minds. But it comes down to the discretionary income they have in light of everything they’re buying being much more expensive than it was two to three years ago.
Then there’s existing home sales, which drives a lot of what happens outside the commercial business. I think 2026 will be a solid year; I just hope we don’t have as many months where you feel like it’s busy for two or three weeks and it slows down. That’s what I hear from most vendors and distributors I talk to.
Wilbur: The sentiment I’m hearing from attendees here on site is very positive. During the ITR presentation, Brian Beaulieu made reference to the market not being a “rising tide for all ships. It’s not a bigger pie for everybody.” Rather, it’s “look out for you.” And I think everyone understands that at the end of the day, that’s true. But what makes an association like NAFCD so special is when we come together as a group, we know we want a better market in which to compete. We’re all committed to that collective future.
