Latest / Grow Clinton Podcast / GCP269 - Quality Flooring at Carpetland USA w/Doug Bertrand & Brooke Ottens

Transcript

GCP269 - Quality Flooring at Carpetland USA w/Doug Bertrand & Brooke Ottens · Grow Clinton Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So then the luxury vinyl, which is what it is.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a core vinyl.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple different kinds.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's what's called Brigid Core, and then WPC, which is a different composite.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: You're listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Grow Clinton is a 501c6 nonprofit economic community development and tourism organization based in Clinton, Iowa.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, visit growclinton.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's growclinton.com.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the show.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, you're not on the screen, Jenny.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll just you'll be a mystery for this one.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Just slide it a little bit over to that towards that direction.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget we're live, so don't be cussing, Jenny.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Stop.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta adjust the resolution.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're live.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: What's happening, all you beautiful people out there in Podcast Land?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the One, the Only, you love it, you know where to find it, folks.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Grow Clinton Podcast brought to you by Grow Clinton, a small economic development nonprofit organization located in the eastern side of the great state of Iowa, right along the mighty Mississippi River.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: As always, I am your host for today's episode, Andy Sokolovich, president and CEO at Grow Clinton.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Joined in the Stew Stew studio by none other than Jenny Home, our director of member and community relations.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, what's happening?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know what's happening tonight.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: What is happening?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I know what's gonna happen.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Football game.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Bear down.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Bear down.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Nope, you got a big football game coming up.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Philadelphia Eagles play the Chicago Bears at Soldier Fields this evening.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I am a huge Eagles fan.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: So excited.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's just a dolphins fan.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's a dolphin.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Dolphins.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: So they still playing?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're still playing.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're not a bad team.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jenny, how was your weekend?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Really good.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: It was a beautiful weekend, actually.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: You had a good time and it's just relaxing.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: How about you?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I spent some rainy days in Burlington, Iowa for the 2026 Professional Developers of Iowa Fall Conference.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Always an exciting time to see my partners in economic development from across the state.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: You would think there's a lot of us, but there is not.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's probably a couple hundred, maybe even less than that, uh, that are members of professional developers of Iowa.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's cool every fall to get together and break bread, have a few beverages, and kind of commiserate every once in a while.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So Tony went.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Tony or Tony Girks went for the first time.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Tony Girks, yes, she went for the first time.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I it's important that everybody from the office gets involved in those professional organizations because you can always learn from others.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Sponsors! Mike Check, courtesy of Citizens First Bank, making your finances and our audio crystal clear.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: These new mics in the Girl Clinton Podcast studio are probably sponsored by the bank that's always in tune with our community.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Find them at gocfb.bank, banking as it should be with Citizens First Bank.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Member FDIC, At Craft Printware, where they've been into custom apparel games since 1970.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, started out as a small little business.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now they have a cutting edge operation, providing top-notch customized printware to teams and companies all across the United States.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: AdcraftUSA.com for all your custom printware needs.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sullysports.com S-U-L-L-Y-S.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can visit their physical location off on 19th Avenue Northwest here in Clinton for all your sporting good needs.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: But go to their website, SullySports.com.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to join the Sully Shirts Club.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: $24.99 a month.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I pay.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Every month I get an exclusive t-shirt.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Extra small.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I like to wear it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: So you can see my heartbeat.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you can No, double XL is my jam.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then also 10% off anything in the store, Jenny.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty cool.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Miles Communication, the original gangsta.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, folks.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: They hook us up with Wicked Fast, high-speed internet to ensure that our broadcast is crisp, clear, and consistent.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Miles offers residential and commercial high-speed internet services.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: If they're not in your neck of the woods, they are on their way.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Milestelephone.com.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Lionel Basel, Clinton Complex, where they produce high-density, low density, polyethylene plastic resins used to create a variety of products, including household and industrial bottles, pressure pipes, food packaging.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: If it's made of plastic, chances are pretty good.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Those resins came from Clinton.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: LYB, as they're known on the stock ticker, is committed to being a responsible, engaged neighbor in the communities where they operate.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Lion Dell Bissell, solutions for a better tomorrow.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Good show today, Jennifer.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love it.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's a community business, local business we have here, and it's something that if you want to freshen up your life, it does a fabulous job.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody likes new flooring.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when your existing flooring is either cracked, dirty, it's that old laminant stuff that's or whatever it was that peels on the edge.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm reflecting right now, thinking of my grandmother.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was a greenish color at the time.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Ugh.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: But nothing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Linoleum.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like some brand linoleum.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing like some brand new flooring.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we have in the studio Doug and Brooke from Carpet Land USA here in Clinton.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having us, Dude.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: What is going on at Carpet Land USA, located right off of Lincoln Way, uh, right by a bunch of other stores that we don't need to name because they're not on the podcast.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Carpet Land USA is, and I've been known Doug for several years now.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, actually, way back in the day, his wife threatened my life in a good way, but she didn't follow through with it.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: I guess that's good too.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, that's a sidebar.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's a sidebar.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: But Doug, how long have you been with Carpet Land?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, 37 years.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: 37 years.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And a guy's just turned 40.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's insane.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's an he's an early achiever.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: What have you seen change, Doug, in the carpet and flooring business over 37 years?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it's all changed.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it's been um, you know, flooring is uh always a need for people, but it's also a put-off item, and and uh so you don't necessarily need it um unless you're building a new house or have you know water restoration, that type of thing.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: But you guys offer a wide variety of flooring.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: We we do.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Our name is carpet land, but uh we we we handle everything.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: We do custom tile, we do custom showers, we do luxury vinyl.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, back in the day it was linoleum, and uh then it became sheet vinyl, and uh uh you know, and and of course, carpets have improved over the years as well.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you pet perfect, you really can't damage the carpet or stain the carpet anymore.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man, yeah, now you know, and if you have pets, that's so and kids, that's so important.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: But when you started out, what was the hot thing?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, they always say these aesthetics.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: When I started out, the industry was about 82% carpet, and the balance would have been sheet vinyl and then about 2% wood and 2% uh ceramic.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know that uh Doug Brooke, you're not getting down on your hands and knees doing the install.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: How does that look when I come into Carpetland USA?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I pick out some flooring, whether it's carpet or vinyl or whatever it is, who comes and puts it in?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: So all of our installers are subcontractors to us, but they have been with us for 15 years.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a couple of them are um third and fourth generation installers, so they grew up with it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they've been doing it since they were, you know, 14, 15 years old, and they're in their 40s now, and now their kids are doing it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: In their 40s, ancient, ancient for a carpet installer.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know, Brooke.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you look down, other than the area rug at this carpet, uh you may recognize that's some carpet land USA.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: We're in like iron too.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: We love it.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was uh that that was install was just the squares and it comes in and boom, boom, boom, and was down.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was easy.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Clinton Engineering did it for us, so we appreciate that.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: But so many different options to choose from.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: If I walk in and I have no idea, I'm sure you ask questions like, what color's your cabinetry?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: What are you going for?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I know my wife watches all of these, like, which I don't think half of them are reality when somebody goes in, I bought this home for$12,000 and just flipped it for$226,000, you know?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: But they have a vision, is what my wife always says.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: How do you help people find out what flooring fits their vision?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you just you really need to listen.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: So you need to listen to what they're telling you because they will tell you their story.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, a lot of times we'll ask, do you have pets?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have kids?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what are you expecting for your from your floor?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: What do you need your floor to do for you?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you at in your life?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: What your budget looks like.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have a ton of different, you know, flooring to fit, lots of different budgets.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: So um if you take all of those things into um perspective, they'll tell you what they do.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: I love going in there too because you walk into carpet land and I don't know what you guys do if you pump something into the air or what we don't, and you go, I need to get new floor.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because everything in here is so beautiful.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know, explain.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: I know it probably doesn't need it, but luxury vinyl plank.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: Is it indestructible?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, okay, well, nothing's indestructible.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: What did you think?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Steve's gonna go smash it with a hammer and be like, Hold you.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: We get wild, man.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: If somebody's gonna do it, it's gonna be me.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's individual planks, yeah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: Isn't that?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, so what is it how's it manufactured?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Luxury vinyl started in the late 90s, where it wasn't really luxury vinyl, it was laminate at the time.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Purgo is the name.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the Kleenex of brand.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Purgo was an actual brand.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: They had many manufacturers.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but they found that um when when they tried to lower the cost, it became hard to it was not waterproof.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're putting it in kitchens, bathrooms, that type of thing, it was all disintegrating after a few few short years.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So then the luxury vinyl, which is what it is, it's just a core vinyl.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a couple different kinds.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's what's called brigid core and then WPC, which is a different composite.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but they're primarily clicked together, and like Brooks says, they're not indestructible.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have to make sure you have the proper underlayment, make sure everything's pretty flat, otherwise you can run into some problems.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's why our estimating crews come out, or we'll send the installers right out to help.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a problem.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, in our community here, we have some older homes with some, I mean, solid foundations, but some of the basements were not designed to be finished.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so, like my basement, for instance, had those nine by nine asbestos tiles in there.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously you can't go tearing those up, or I've heard of people doing that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: I know, and that's not a good idea.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, not cool, not cool.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, what about the pet friendly carpeting?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does that look like?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as a brand, right?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: So Pet Perfect by Shaw.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is what we sell most of.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Mohawk also has a pet premiere, um, but we Shaw has done a very good job in just their displays and how they display things.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: So um they have a backing on the back of the carpet um that helps from liquids going into the pad.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can say urine on the podcast.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: We don't we will not bleep it out.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: So you don't want and sloppy adults.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Nail polish.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Nail polish.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's my daughter's.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, what are you in the destruction business?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: You got me.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Juliana.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't think there's anything you can do about that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so no, I I know firsthand, like I have a beautiful dog.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: She's five years old, she's a Bernie doodle, and just we're going through some tests at the vet, uh, which hasn't been cheap, by the way.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we're trying to figure out if she's got a thyroid problem because she's been drinking a lot.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And at first I thought maybe she was diabetic.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Long story short, she just she cannot go very long without being let out.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, I started having accidents in the house.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that can destroy carpet in about two hot seconds.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it has a protective backing on it and prevents or it prevents the liquid from going into the subfloor.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then it is also treated to hold liquids on top up to a certain point.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really just so you can clean up an accident.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, thinking way back, you know, I was around 37 years ago when people were, you know, putting carpet and that kind of stuff.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: I was around then.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: You couldn't find carpet that would do that.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: If you had an animal or kids and they ruined your carpet, you had no chance.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: What about carpeted bathrooms?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Remember this?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Carpeted bathroom.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: We looked at houses around here, you know, uh uh several years ago now.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: There were several that we looked at that had carpeted bathrooms and carpeted kitchens.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: What a mess.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: I mean what do you get a house here?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the blue back that what Brooke's talking about is it's kind of like if you think about it, you will you could hold it in, you could put it in a bucket of water and it's not gonna soak through.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but when you get the stains or problems with your flooring, odors from pets, is if it goes down, what's underneath your carpet, if it gets through, it goes into the pad.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And pad acts like a sponge, so it's just gonna take that out and away.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times people will clean up the stain and then whoop, the stain comes right back.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's called wicking.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And um the with with what the blueback is, you don't have that issue.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it gets the odor out as well.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not gonna be the PAB.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: That's always the big problem is having them remark and that I I don't know.
• 12:54
  unknown: Yeah.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: I freak out about that kind of stuff.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we all we all know like flory is an investment and it's a good investment.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if you like your home and you want it to look nice.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do you guys offer financing?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: We do.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right now we have our five-year financing, so we typically run that once or twice a year.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you have 60 months, obviously, to make payments.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we always have one year financing, all of our financing through Wells Fargo.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: We do have a second option uh that we run through Synchrony.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you can go to our website, carpetlandusa.net, and there is a um financing um icon at the top, and you can fill out your forms online and get pre-approved.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: Do you do any like natural hardwood?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Is that popular now?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Or people just say no way on that.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like all natural?
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like and I would think that'd be a little cost prohibitive, probably.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do the finish at we we don't finish on site.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: We can.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: We have certain crews that can do that in our Cedar Rapids market and they can come in and uh and and do that.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we have pre-finished hardwood flooring.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which is depending on, you know, people people are busy lives, right?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: So they don't want to uh hardwood can you have to care for that a little bit different than some other floors.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a really active lifestyle, like Brooke said earlier, you want to decide if that's really for you or if the luxury vinyl is going to be more for you.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yes, we we do have um a lot of and the pre-finished hardwoods nowadays are very, very durable.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're beautiful.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can get any kind of species you want.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: So and we have a great selection of that.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: I had a kid, I put some really proud of putting some natural hardwood in a room once, and one of the kids dragged a chair that didn't have the protecting on the just an exposed bolt, and it just across the whole.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: I bought a carpet.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: It looks nice in the pictures, but it's not functional.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just think it's the stuff that they offer now over at Carpet Land USA.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all these flooring options.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's that guy, he's like a local celebrity, Eric Langner, right there.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh hanging out.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh had a chance to golf with him a few times.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Fun guy.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Fun guy knows about a lot about carpet.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's owned it for how long now?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is is he second generation ownership?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's actually third generation.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, and he's uh he's been in it basically his whole life.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, his grandfather started Carper Land in 1978.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: We came to Clinton in 1998, or I'm sorry, we started in Davenport in 1972, uh came to Clinton in 1978, and um uh Eric bought his father out in 2002, and um he's been uh at it ever since.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: All I know is I watch the commercials and he has his boys in there with his nice wife, and then his boys, and I remember them being really tiny, and then now they're grown-ups, but I remember Carpet Land USA coming to Clinton.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of people know the logo or the the logo and the jingle and watched his children grow up uh when they filmed those commercials once a year, so um yeah goes time goes five by quickly.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: How many Carpet Land USA, and that we only really care about the Clinton one, but how many stores are there?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: Nine.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Nine total stores.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: Nine stores.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: And do you have certain events that come up all year throughout the year?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like sales events.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Sales events?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: So we always are we always have a Memorial Day and a Labor Day.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, those are our two big events.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I believe we're adding a six-year financing event that'll be once a year, which is very unique for our industry.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have the five-year event, which is either once or twice a year, and those are pretty much our sale events.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: The financing's so nice because for someone like me, it'd be like, I don't know if I could afford that.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: Wait a minute, what'd you say?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: Financing?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I can do that.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that's the you know, well, everything's so expensive right now.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, but people still it makes you feel good when you're able to, you know, COVID was a very big time for us.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't really understand or know why it would be, but people were spending her time at home.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted to improve their homes.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and so you want to see that, and and um we just feel like we we love to be a part of projects.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: All of our stores have our flooring down, our our stocking flooring down, so you can see what it's gonna look like and feel like in your own home.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine people who work like we all work out at the house how many hours a day?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: Andy, you're you're always working, you're always on the job.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_03: But can you imagine being stuck in your house because of COVID and all of a sudden you're going, Oh my God.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you don't realize until you're spending a lot of time on it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because you're not there.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then you're getting down on your hands and knees, scrubbing, doing your best to try to make it look, you know, acceptable again.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now you can't.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: They got to go and get yourself some new flooring.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Just makes it worse.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love the tile that that people can do too.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's one skill set I I do not have.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I've attempted, uh, and it gets very sloppy and messy right off the bat, and it never looks as great.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I love those large, chunky tiles, those kind of the new style right now.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, the subway kind of smaller, more elongated tile.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: That looks cool.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: But it's amazing what like new tile can do to a room, especially if you know what you're doing.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you lay it out, whether it's horizontal or vertical, it can really open up a room and make it feel bigger than it actually is.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so do you have like does somebody on site designer who can tell you, no, not that color, this color, or are people guessing?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be Brooke.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: Brooke, you're doing it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Brooke's the designer.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do you backsplashes too?
• 18:19
  unknown: Yeah.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, I didn't know that.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: You do tile for floor and backsplash.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we'll do custom showers.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: We do backsplashes, we do outside patios, we do, I mean, we've had done some outdoor kitchens, we've we do all of it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: You are kidding me.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know that.
• 18:37
  unknown: Wow.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that I love is I stayed in Airbnb not too long ago.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: This wasn't the most recent one, but they had one of these showers that was like a rainfall type thing, and the inside had all this like really natural looking, it was almost like it was slate.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: The tile and stuff.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: I want that so bad.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: It just was like so refreshing to take a shower and felt like you were, you know, hanging outside of a waterfall somewhere and not just in a plain white tub.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: Just coming here from a cave and I'm getting all fresh.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, so you can do that kind of stuff too.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: What's hot right now?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Color-wise.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Color-wise, a lot of natural colors, a lot of you know, very clean lines, um, warmer tones.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're seeing a lot of warmer tones come back, but definitely natural woods and warmer tones.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so they're moving people are moving away from the grays.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, uh still a lot of people try to incorporate a gray because they've painted a room gray or, you know, agreeable gray.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think everybody has agreeable gray.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: Agreeable gray.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's my entire house in the interior.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: My wife went crazy with the agreeable gray.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Agreeable gray.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: But now we have, you know, all these paint buckets, and I don't know, they're all agreeable gray, and they're all just like a little tint off.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't, you know, you always have good intentions.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, I'm gonna mark this one, I'm gonna mark this one.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them are marked, some of them are not.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all a guessing game, you know?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'll try this.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's all a guessing game.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, how often uh you guys are open Monday through Friday, Saturday, Sunday, every day of the week?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: What's the deal?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: So we're open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: to 7 p.m.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And on Saturdays we're open from 9 a.m.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: to 5 p.m.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: And just walk in and Brooke will be there to greet you.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: How big's your team there, Doug?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the team right now is uh there's well, we have we have some office and warehouse associates, but we have uh four people on the sales floor.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Brooke stays up to date with all the color trends, and we have a lot of meetings and and whatnot to keep up with that.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: We can arrange designers, but a lot of times it's it's what the customer really wants, and then we try and help them put the colors together.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're there just to kind of give them the quality and what they need.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: But if they do need that help, you know, Brooke's been really good.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: She'll go right out to the house for any of our salespeople and and um take care of that.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's pretty service.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's good.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that is awesome.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: What about warranties, things like that?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the brand, a manufactured warranty?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's somebody's always asking that question.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: So um the deal with warranties is like uh if you any carpet is gonna have a warranty, but it's all about on how you maintain it.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: Everything has to be maintained and things have to be in the correct rooms at the, you know, with the correct substrates.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: So um carpet will carry a warranty depending on what you purchase from anywhere from five years up to 25 years.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um they'll prorate it over time.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but whether you purchase it from us or anybody else in the industry, you do have to have it hot water extracted by a professional company truck mounted.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of the key to that.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, with so that's not swinging by your local big box and buying a carpet cleaner and saying I met the warranty guidelines.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, those just don't ever get hot enough to actually remove the soap residue, and soap just attracts dirt, right?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: So you just are making it worse by doing that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: So rug doctors really are not your friend.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're your friend in just the split second moment.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: Just right there when you want them to go over.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we try not to sew up a warranty.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: We've been in business for fifty over fifty-five years and and And we want to we want customers to feel great about their purchase and educate them.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if something happens, we'll you know we'll go we'll go with the mill.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: We know we know what's a claim and what's more maintenance and and whatnot, but we give them options and we take care of the customers.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: We've we've not made everybody happy over the years, but we surely try to make everybody happy.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: In the service industry, my friend, it's impossible.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: In your house.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: What's your go-to?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: If you're gonna redo a room, what are you going to?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my wife, but Yeah, I was gonna say, Doug, you mean what he's told to do or what we we prefer the hard surface floors in the main areas, but we're also in in a climate where, you know, we're waking up on a cold winter morning, the carpet feels real nice underfoot, nice pad, you know, and and um what about you?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um I currently have a Mannington product that I love, but I think we're gonna end up switching out and we'll probably go to um either a Cortec or Aquaproof, which is like a hybrid laminate.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: Do you sell area rugs or remnants or anything like that?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we actually have some really um great options.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: We have um end of the roll from like manufacturers, very high-end carpets that they've bound and sell um really very inexpensively comparatively.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we have rugs that are$199 up to$259.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Most area rugs um in those sizes, like a 9x12 will run you$700 plus.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we have some smaller options like five by eights and six by nines too.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: We, of course, can do custom area rugs, which I have done, um, but you should expect to spend a little bit more with those.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I came there looking for a Philadelphia Eagles rug.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: They used to have a lot of things.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say we used to sell them.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: They used to have every NFL team in a rug.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I had a Santa Claus rug from there for Christmas one.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I still put it out.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's in great condition.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's old.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: So Carpet Land USA competitive pricing, I would assume, too.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh we're very competitively priced.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we're, you know, we have uh Carpet Land is nine stores.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: At one point it was 120, but we're part of a large buying group called NFA, so our pricing comes nationally, and we just try and offer the best product, the best service at the best value and price.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: That it always shows.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I see you guys too.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have a so if I'm interested in replacing my flooring, can you get a uh free pre-measure?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: You absolutely can.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, what does that mean?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody comes over and measures my space.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: So you give us a call, you kind of let us let us know what you're looking for.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not great at math.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I know square footage, that's easy, but well, we do it.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Brooke site uh she set up the electronic measuring now.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: So most of our stores, if we have to come out on like a Saturday quick, we'll we'll hand measure it still, but they're all electronic measures so the customer can see exactly what they're getting and how much waste there's going to be.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if they want to try and you know maneuver that a little bit, we can do whatever they want, but we it shows them right on page.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it is based on their cover coverage.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a lot of training, actually, for you to I mean, to learn how to do all of that.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, learn from the best.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: So somebody other than Doug or Yeah, 37 years, you don't get much better than that.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I also see that you have a flooring product catalog and room visualizer.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: We do.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: What is that?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: What's the visualizer?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: So the visualizer is you can go through our catalog um and upload any of the products that you see into your room specifically.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: So you can see it with your paint color, your furniture, cabinets.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I will say that our hard surface shows up much better than carpet.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: Carpet's still good to get like a an individual individual sample, if you will, yeah.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: Sent to your home, which we can do.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, it's great.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's it gives you a good idea.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So successful business in the community selling the flooring, working with local contractors to install the flooring.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: What more could you want?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, geez.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's been here.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I was here when it started in Clinton, and it's been in the same place, I think, the whole time, and it's the go-to.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else you want to share with our audience before we close out this episode?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: We just appreciate what you guys are doing for the community.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Brooke, I interrupted you as always.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate what you guys are doing for the community.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes it might be, hey, are we really out there?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because some people get contentious a little bit every once in a while.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you know what?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's we see you, we see you out in the community, and we we appreciate being a part of a part of your your organization as well.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully we support you as well.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, we we will repay the favor, sir, because uh we got some things in the hopper that will be very exciting, right?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: If we can just make it happen.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and that's the goal.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, it's Monday.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Busy rest of your week.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, busy rest of the week.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: We only have two more podcasts.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: You limited them to three.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: I did.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: I had to, every once in a while, I gotta throw a governor on Jenny because we'll do like seven podcasts a day.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'll do it.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll be like, Jenny, I don't think the board's gonna appreciate if I just sit behind a microphone all day doing podcasts.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just invite them on.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be fun, Jenny.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be fun.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well, thank you everybody for listening, Jenny.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right before we hit record on this, I was tweaking our new application.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I can't wait to go.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we are gonna have a Grow Clinton podcast app.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be available in the Google Play Store and the App Store for you iPhone users.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can download it right to your phone, and then all you do is click the app, you open it up, and you listen to our newest episodes right there.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's all branded, Grow Clinton.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing else on it, no way to start any kind of confusion.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: All you get is the sweet, sweet sound of Jenny's voice.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's you know, S deep.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, does it go up in octave when you talk to him?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: Stan! It gets a little more.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, ooh.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: So did you think 269 episodes ago we'd be doing an app and all of the other stuff?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, when we first started, we were in a little closet.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it was very uncomfortable.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, me being 6'1, 250-ish, I'll say, pounds.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was it was kind of tiny to squeeze in there and be comfortable.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: And every once in a while I get a little claustrophobic.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: But now, thanks to the Gateway Area Foundation, we have this beautiful room.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, thanks to Clinton Engineering who constructed.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And CarpetLand USA put the flooring down.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you guys.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, we're doing all sorts of cool stuff.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm a firm believer that you got to keep investing in your future success.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just sit back and watch it like you're on autopilot.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: So you got to try something new.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we chuck a lot up against the wall and see what sticks.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this is something that has stuck.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's stuck.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right, everybody, again, thank you for listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to check out our app.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: It is available right now.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: So wherever you get your applications for your smartphone device, just search Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Or you can listen to us on uh we're everywhere YouTube, Buzz Sprout, Amazon Music.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Anywhere you get your podcast, your search Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to subscribe until we speak again in the future, folks, which is going to be tomorrow.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: Tomorrow.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: You're welcome.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Do me a favor and stay classy.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Grow Clinton Podcast.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all your socials.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: See ya.