As sequels go, 2025-26 was a lot like the past few distribution years: predictable, repetitive and missing that spark to stimulate the market.
A stagnant housing sector hurt by surging mortgage rates above 7% and a “lock-in effect” that is keeping a lid on home sales continues to bottle up that all-important pent-up demand.
Sooner or later the dam will burst; distributors can all agree that day can’t come soon enough.
FCNews’ Top 20 Distributors issue takes a closer look at the factors shaping the wholesale flooring market.
See the full list of the Top 20 Distributors here.
Flooring distributors—like the rest of the industry—are long past playing the “wait until the second half for improvement” game as their patience runs thin with a rudderless housing market.
While affluent consumers continue to prop up the general economy with spending on travel and entertainment, the flooring industry is constrained by a housing sector that has stalled due to a mix of high mortgage rates, record-high home prices and a severe shortage of for-sale inventory.
In fact, annual home sales could slump to around 4.7 million by the end of 2026—the slowest pace of home sales since 2011, according to Capital Economics, a macroeconomic research firm that said it expects a significant slowdown in U.S. housing that could last several years.
Distributors have already been through years of stagnation—and are frustrated by it. “In 50 years in this business, I’ve never seen such a disconnect in what is happening in the [general] economy and what is happening in our business,” said Jeff Striegel, president of Elias Wilf, Owings Mills, Md. “In ’06-’08, it was a decline for two years and then the economy went back to pre-recession levels; in ’90-’91 it was a year and a half downturn before a rebound. We are now going into year five, and I see no impetus to change it.”
Flooring distributors are doing everything in their power to make a challenging environment work to their advantage. Many have embraced the latest technology to be more efficient and operationally sharper. As a result, some of the top 20 distributors in this year’s rankings are posting revenue increases, principally by taking market share and expanding their base.
A case in point is Minneapolis-based All Surfaces, which is up double digits over 2025, due to several factors—including its acquisition of West Virginia-based Abraham Linc that significantly expanded All Surfaces’ footprint from the East Coast, Mid-Atlantic region westward to the Mountain West territories. “The acquisition has been transformative for our company,” John DeYoung, All Surfaces CEO, told FCNews. “Abraham Linc are wonderful operators; they can teach us things.”
DeYoung cited Darren Abraham, president/CEO, Terry Warne, executive vice president, and AJ Warne, vice president of sales and marketing, for leading the way. “They showed us what’s possible in terms of relentless focus on customer service; they raised the bar for us,” DeYoung said. “They are very good at OEM, at private label. We’ve learned a lot there, too. I’m blown away by their passion for customer service.”
In the past year, All Surfaces has also built a brand-new facility in Nashville, Tenn., and fortified its market presence with several key product line additions, notably Sika/Schönox, “which has been a real boom for our business,” DeYoung said. “We keep investing in technology, in integrations and making our business better. We want our company as well positioned as possible so that when the wind does come to our back, we are ready.”
When the winds of positive change occur is anyone’s guess. Prior to the start of the Iran war, distribution executives saw some positive signs in the market—with sub-6% mortgages the catalyst. However, since the conflict, mortgage rates have climbed to above 7%, and diesel fuel costs have hit record highs. Flooring observers point out that it’s not only diesel fuel costs, but inbound freight costs on containers and higher surcharges placed by suppliers that are constricting the market.
“We are still dealing with a relatively slow economy,” said Aaron Rhoderick, vice president of sales, Tri-West, Ltd., Santa Fe Springs, Calif. “Discretionary spending seems to be going in other directions. High interest rates are negatively impacting existing home sales, new home construction, multifamily new construction and large commercial projects. Tariff uncertainty and high fuel costs have kept the market off balance and may lead to higher prices.”
North of the border, national Canadian distributor Shnier-Gesco is up 5% year-over-year despite grappling with a high degree of complexity and uncertainty in the market. “Tariffs and counter-tariffs have added cost and made sourcing more complicated, while the general softness in residential continues,” said Greg Vrantsis, director of product development and marketing for the Brampton, Ontario-based distributor. “Add political fatigue, consumer uncertainty and people simply being cautious about spending and there are a lot of factors affecting confidence. We’ve adjusted sourcing where needed and continue to focus on areas where we can gain share.”
Focusing on areas they can control, like taking share, has been the mantra for many distributors. Eagan, Minn.-based Herregan is up fractionally over 2025 on the strength of geographic expansion that has helped it gain market share, according to Pat Theis, vice president of sales and marketing. As for the future, Theis said, “Current market conditions are causing pent-up demand that will eventually flow to the market.”
The question: Will that pent-up demand burst like a dam when conditions improve or be more of a trickle? Whatever the case, distributors remain hopeful; it’s what they do. “There is pent-up demand in all market segments,” Tri-West’s Rhoderick said. “When we do start to get help from the economy, business could bounce back nicely.”
While acknowledging that the industry is up against inflationary pressures and a customer base that largely is sitting this one out, FlorStar Sales president/CEO Scott Rozmus remains unfazed. “The data makes clear that the business is there,” he said. “We just have to work to get it.”
In the meantime, wholesalers are seeking solutions that work for today. As Andrew Kleinhans, director of business development for Big D Flooring Supply in Phoenix explained, “When selling into slower markets, we find our best case for optimism comes from finding internal efficiencies and focusing on ways to refine our operation as a whole. Enhancing our customer experience is always a priority but it becomes all the more so when opportunities for sales become more challenging. We will continue to focus on improving ourselves in the short term to benefit our customers in the long term.”
Amid a tough residential landscape, Schnier-Gesco has relied on its commercial work to drive growth. “If [our commercial success] continues and the residential market opens up a bit, we should have a very solid market,” Vrantsis said. “We’ve been able to pivot with materials to fill gaps that have emerged from tariffs, along with some return to residential resale in several of the larger markets in Canada. Canada, in general, has a large housing deficit along with gaps in residential remodel activity that will return going forward.”
Market-share battle
When growth is stagnant, the successful distributors look to grow by taking market share. It is a battle that has been raging for years in this era of consolidation and will continue, executives said. “In this environment you are either taking share or giving it up; there is no middle ground,” Elias Wilf’s Striegel said. “For those companies that are operationally and financially sound, that carry limited debt, that provide high-level service with meaningful and differentiated brands, that have actively embraced technology to introduce efficiencies and cut cost, that have stable, experienced and professional teams, and stay close to their customers, it is a great time to shine and take share. Elias Wilf checks all these boxes, and we are definitively looking to stay aggressive and continue to take share.”
