Business Spotlight: Joe's Carpet

When officials at Kansas-based Joe's Carpet made plans to open a Springfield store in 2005, they chose a high-traffic area near Interstate 44 and Glenstone Avenue.

By the time Joe's Carpet finally opened in March 2006, plans for improvements at the busy intersection already were on the drawing board.

The same traffic volumes that attracted Joe's Carpet officials have created a bit of a hurdle in getting patrons to the flooring outlet.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is replacing two 40-year-old bridges on I-44 and reconfiguring the Glenstone interchange, an $8 million, 18-month project that is scheduled to be complete by July 2010. With construction in full swing, access to several businesses, including Joe's Carpet, has been temporarily re-routed.

"A few of our customers have been grumbling a little," says Sherrie Gillen, property management specialist at Joe's Carpet.

But Gillen and company welcome the attempt to aid access and traffic flow.

"It's improvement that we really need," she says of the intersection that generates some 52,000 cars a day. "Sometimes, at rush hour, you can see traffic coming for a quarter of a mile down I-44."

The inconvenience evidently has not affected Joe's Carpet sales.

Jerry Ratway, director of sales and new business development at Joe's parent company, Weber Carpet Inc., says 2009 sales for the 25,000-square-foot Springfield store should outpace the $3 million it produced in 2008, a figure that was 22 percent above 2007 sales.

Lenexa, Kan.-based Weber Carpet was founded in 1977 by Mark Weber as one man and an installation van. Now, Weber Carpet employs more than 200, operating three Kansas City area stores by the same name and Joe's Carpet stores in Kansas City North, Independence, Grandview and Kansas City, Kan., in addition to the Springfield site.

Weber Carpet is a full-service company offering some services that differ from those provided by Joe's. In addition to floor covering and installation, Weber Carpet offers window treatment, and technical and in-house design consultant services. Joe's Carpet sells carpet, tile and hardwood flooring, installed or uninstalled, to homeowners, home builders, remodelers, property managers and general contractors.

"We do a lot of business with Joe's because (of the) good prices," says residential contractor J.C. Springer of Cornerstone Homes. "No matter what I'm working on, they've always got the right type and quality of floor covering in stock."

Ratway cites company buying practices as part of the reason for Joe's competitive pricing. "We buy ... in truckloads, and that volume allows us to get a lower price and pass on those savings to our customers," he says, noting that the Springfield store carries more than $1 million in inventory and more than 400 rolls of carpet.

"Customers like to see and feel and walk on floor covering they're thinking about buying, and our large inventory provides that opportunity," adds Ratway, who is on the board of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry in Kansas City and is working with builders and contractors to establish a Springfield branch.

Although Weber has plans for new stores in greater Kansas City, Ratway says nothing additional is under way in southwest Missouri. "But we are ahead of our sales projections for our newest site," he says, "and we're very satisfied with our decision to move to Springfield."[[In-content Ad]]