Rug & Furniture Retailers Honored At Roy Awards

Furniture World Magazine

From July 15—18 area rug and home furnishings retailers shopped the Area Rug Center and discovered handmade and power-loomed area rugs in every style, at every price point in classic and contemporary styling well suited to any retail environment. The July 2007 Atlanta International Area Rug Market(sm) —co-sponsored by the Oriental Rug Retailers of America is the nation’s largest show for area rugs. The crowning jewel of the summer Market was the 14th annual Retailer of the Year (ROY) Awards. Each July, the ROY Awards salutes outstanding achievement among the nation's premier area rug and home furnishings retailers. All ROY nominees are nominated by AmericasMart area rug exhibitors and voted on by an independent panel of industry experts. A capacity crowd was on hand at the Georgia Aquarium and its majestic Oceans Ballroom to recognize and celebrate the winners. The evening’s festivities featured a lavish cocktail buffet catered by Chef to the Stars Wolfgang Puck and a Monte Carlo-themed casino evening. The winners of the July 2007 Rug Retailer of the Year Awards are as follows: Rug/Floor Covering Store: Gallery of Oriental Rugs, Wilmington, NC “…a family-owned and operated business founded in the 1980’s…a renowned, full service operation featuring a program gallery, a gallery of Antique rugs, high-end wall to wall gallery, as well as a repair and restoration service…its inventory includes more than 6,000 rugs from contemporary to traditional…its own proprietary software…well entranced in local community organizations and their rugs have been on display in several museums…” Outstanding Merchandising: Jordan’s Furniture, East Taunton, MA “…its four locations attract a record number of guests each week…sells more furniture per square foot than any other furniture retailer in the country…two of this retail locations on an average weekend welcome more than 4,000 customers each…makes philanthropy a cornerstone of business…in 25 years, the J-Team (as they are known) has grown from 15 employees to more 1,000 employees...” Creative Selling: Abbington Rug Outlet, Abbington, VA “…founded 26 years ago…carry rugs exclusively…in just seven short years it’s become one of the largest Internet area rug retailers…” Furniture Retailer: Lillian August, Norwalk, CT “…this firm is best described as a business wrapped in a close–knit family…established in 1987 with 3,500 sq. ft of space…now has seven locations with more than 160,000 sq. ft…truly unique with their own distinct footprint…carries a wide array of high end furniture and accessories too…produce and license their own product…all product carries the name of its founder and the matriarch of this wonderful family…” Rug Retailer of the Year: Krimsa Fine Rugs & Décor, San Francisco, CA “…headquartered in one of the greatest cities in the West…heavily involved in the community and especially the local art community…it’s rugs have been on display at various art museums …has a fantastic array of rugs and has developed a unique merchandising system…” For more information on AmericasMart Atlanta and its annual markets, call 1-800-ATL-MART or visit AmericasMart.com. AmericasMart Atlanta is the largest wholesale marketplace of its kind in the world, and is a leading international market source for a wide variety of consumer goods. It hosts 23 wholesale markets and six Market Wednesdays that annually attract more than 548,000 attendees from every U.S. state and 80 countries. Retailers attending its markets identify AmericasMart as the gift/home furnishings/area rug wholesale marketplace most important to their business—as compared to all competing U.S. wholesale markets—in independent research conducted by Moore & Symons, Inc.