Automated rack upgrades flooring sales

ITHESE DAYS the retailer who I looks for a streamline approach and better merchandising savy often ends up being able to increase his sales and profit without expanding his sales force or floor space.

A case in point is the All American Home Center, Downey, Ca., which claims to be the biggest and oldest in the business with over 165,000 sq. ft. of selling area and 2l years seniority in the home center business. The management is constantly striving to stay in the vanguard of home centers in terms of merchandising.

This was demonstrated a year ago, for example, when the store decided to pursue more professionally installed sales in its 6,000 sq. ft. flooring department. Luxuriating in a homeremodeling boom in the suburbs of Los Angeles, it was already ringing up lots of d-i-y resilient sales.

Professionally installed jobs, few and far between a year ago, now account for 2590 of resilient sales at All American.

What turned the tide? "The FloorFashion Center department was responsible," reports Tom Thomas, mgr. of flooring and wallcovering. "It's upgrading the quality of the material we're selling like mad."

Thus far Thomas has subcontracted the installations out, "but if business keeps going like this, we'll put our own people on," he says.

With premium sheet goods taking off and d-i-y materials still flying high, Thomas has managed to handle this influx without enlarging his sales staff of one full-timer and two parttimers.

He gives a great deal of the credit to the two FloorMasters the store has been leasing for two years. The electrically powered racks not only save floor space (each holds l5 or l6 rolls

Story at a Glance

Looking for new and better ways of merchandising pays off . pioneer home center in. creases flooring sales with installation of cutting equip- ment handles higher volume with same number of employees.

of l2'-wide material yet consumes only 52 sq. ft. of floor space), but they also save considerable labor, according to Thomas.

It takes only one salesperson to operate the machine: a push of a but-

(Please turn to page 56) ag0 t0 25% oI total resilient sales today.