Business Spotlight: Imperial Carpet Co.

The current rough-and-tumble housing market isn't getting Frank "Eddie" Foley down. As owner of Imperial Carpet Co. in Stafford for 51 years, Foley has seen his share of ups and downs.

"Business is good, but it's slow," Foley says. "We used to have eight to 10 customers a day, but now they're just not coming in."

It's not the first time, however. "I went through a period like this in 1975 to 1976 when it was slow, and I just moved into hanging wallpaper for a while."

Despite its modest appearance, Imperial Carpets offers an impressively broad selection of flooring products in a town of about 2,000 people. Foley is a member of the Mohawk ColorCenter buying group, which enables him to buy products at competitive pricing. He goes to market three times a year to find the latest in carpet, laminate, hardwood, resilient, vinyl, tile, stone and area rugs.

While stain-proof carpets start at 99 cents per square yard, and 12-inch imported stone-look tiles, made of durable porcelain from China, are $1.99 per tile, Foley's focus is on middle and higher-end products. Major brands such as Pergo, Mohawk, Daltile and American Olean are represented.

Time has changed the flooring business. Homeowners want eco-friendly flooring options, such as the soft friese carpet made of recycled plastic soda bottles that sells for $26.48 per square yard installed. Plush, high-end carpets go for $40 per square yard or more installed. The hardwood category has taken over the carpet business and wood now accounts for 50 percent of Foley's business.

Carpet sales add up to 20 percent of the business, with stone and tile around 28 percent, and 2 percent in vinyl. Foley sells area rugs, too. Although he usually has fewer than 25 ready-made rugs on display, he can bind any carpet into an area rug on site.

"People are just getting away from carpet more every day," he says. "We have a large group of people here in southwest Missouri who suffer from allergies and hardwood helps them keep their house cleaner."

Family matters

Imperial Carpet Co. is a family business in every sense of the word. Foley's daughter, Debbie Lawson, has worked at the store since 1975.

"I do a little bit of everything," she says. "For years, I helped Dad install carpets, and then I got married and started working at the store answering phones and waiting on customers. Technically, I'm the vice president and was since the age of 13."

Customers often are greeted by children of all ages, including Lawson's 21-month-old grandson. Lawson says the flexibility of working for her dad allowed her to bring her daughters to work.

"There are days we butt heads and we don't see eye to eye, but he's my dad and I love him," she says.

Before the carpet business, Foley attended Missouri State University for two years while working the 1,500-acre family farm and held a part-time job at Kraft Foods. In the late 1950s, he started working at McDonnell Aircraft Corp., an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis. The company asked him to transfer to the Southwest, but Foley declined. "I am not a desert rat," Foley says. "I'm a farm boy, and I gave notice and started working at Sedgwick Furniture Co. unloading mattresses 10 hours a day in downtown Springfield."

In 1957, after 18 months of working for Frank Sedgewick, Sr., Foley bought out the company's carpet installation department and started in the flooring business. He opened his own retail shop in 1958, selling flooring and appliances in a 1,500-square-foot store in downtown Strafford.

The appliance business was short-lived. "There were too many burglars after the appliances, so after six months, I focused on ceramic tiles, carpet and vinyl to start," Foley explains.

He peddled flooring out of that showroom for 21 years before moving into the current 5,000-square-foot location at 307 E. Old Route 66.

"I took out a $100,000 insurance policy and borrowed against it at the time to buy this store," he recalls.

Stepping forward

Today, Foley approaches his business with a half-century of industry knowledge and old-school customer service. Although he advertises on the radio, TV and in local calendars, most of his sales come from word-of-mouth, and he follows up every lead with an in-person sales call. Always thinking of his business, Foley had sales calls forwarded to his mobile number while vacationing in Thailand last December.

Stephanie Grant, branch manager at the Springfield Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, recently purchased 690 square yards of high-end Kraus carpeting to freshen up the facility. "Foley's business is established, and he took a sincere interest in what I need," she says. "He's also an all-around good guy."

At 71, Foley is looking at his next step in life and a buyer for the business. Lawson says she won't take over: "I don't want to be here without him. I go along wherever he goes."[[In-content Ad]]