PALM BEACH, FL -- Jerome "Jerry" Weinrib, retired chairman of ABC Carpet, died here on Saturday, Feb. 13, following a long illness. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday Feb. 16 at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 W. 76th St. in New York City.
Weinrib, 86, is survived by his wife Bernice Podell-Weinrib, daughters Paulette Cole and Madeline Weinrib, and his granddaughter Lena Cole. Weinrib's first wife, Norma Weinrib, died on Feb. 9, 2002. He was married to Bernice "Bunny" Podell in Jan. 2009.
Now a fourth-generation legacy company, ABC Carpet & Home traces its roots to Sam Weinrib, who came to the U.S. from Austria in 1897 and sold used carpet from a pushcart on New York City's Lower East Side. Sam Weinrib's son, Max grew the business into a discount floor covering store at Third Avenue and 29th Street, and Lena and Max Weinrib's son Jerome, who started selling floor coverings in 1947, moved the business to its present location at 881 Broadway at 19th Street in Manhattan's Flatiron District in 1961.
In 1980, Jerry Weinrib rented the basement and main floor of the historic former W&J Sloane department store at 888 Broadway, directly across the street from the carpet store. The following year he bought the building. ABC began its expansion in 1983 from a carpet and rug specialist to a total home furnishings brand called ABC Carpet & Home, under the direction of Weinrib's daughter, Paulette Cole, the company's CEO and creative director.
By 1988, ABC Carpet was said to be the largest single-store floor coverings operation in America, with annual sales reported at $60 million. Sales are currently estimated in the range of $150 million for the combined ABC Carpet & Home. The enterprise today includes the three New York City locations (the two Manhattan stores and a warehouse store in the Bronx), and outposts in Delray Beach, Fla., and South Hackensack, N.J.
ABC Carpet & Home was named by retail consultant George Whalin to the top 25 list in his book "Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America" in 2009. The company has consistently appeared in trade publications' top 50 floor covering store lists and as one of the country's top 100 furniture stores.
To read the notification of Mr. Weinrib's death published in the New York Times today, click here.