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ORIENTAL DESIGNER RUGS EXPANDS WHOLESALE REACH
 The management team of Oriental Designer Rugs (from left) Vineet Golchha, Renu Giri, and Benny Golchha at the company's headquarters and showroom in Atlanta, exhibited at the Atlanta International Rug Market in July with an eye on expanding wholesale sales nationwide.
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ATLANTA -- Unveiling a new marketing strategy, as well as a new and broadened selection of rug designs at the July 2016 Atlanta International Rug Market, Oriental Designer Rugs plans to expand its wholesale operation nationally while maintaining a local retail presence in Atlanta.
"We have a unique business model," explained Vineet Golchha, vice president of sales and marketing. "While 80 percent of our business is importing hand-knotted rugs for wholesale to fine rug boutiques, we also cater to interior designers from our showroom in Atlanta's West Midtown design district. That showroom, along with an adjacent warehouse, comprises a corporate headquarters which Golchha says is now prepared to service accounts across the country with distinctive products and progressive logistics.
"We have a dealer website which is not promoted to anyone but our wholesale customers. And we offer dealers the opportunity to show our collections as their own on their own websites. Designers who visit our showroom and retail website want a full spectrum of product -- and they are increasingly interested in lower price point rugs for parts of their projects. Since we don't import hand-tufted or machine made, we buy from a select group of brands."
Atlanta-based Oriental Designer Rugs' corporate headquarters includes a designer showroom featuring its imported rugs from India, Pakistan and Turkey.
GEARING UP FOR JANUARY 2017
Already preparing for the winter 2017 edition of the Atlanta rug market, the company's management team used the summer show as a laboratory "to get our logistics and product right for the January show," Golchha explained.
The company returned to the Atlanta International Rug Market in July 2016 after a 20-year hiatus, and unveiled its new AmericasMart showroom in Building 1, Space 3E5. "When we originally came to Atlanta market, we learned that our line was not broad enough for us to be important to the rug dealers shopping this show," said company founder Benny Golcha.
Two decades later Oriental Designer Rugs presented a far more diverse selection of weaves and styling in Atlanta, with a range that features programmed collections and a full assortment of one-of-a kinds. "Now that we have expanded our offerings to include transitional and contemporary designs in addition to our traditional Kashan, Tabriz and now Oushaks from India and Turkey, we feel we have the right selection that fine rug stores and interior designers are looking for," Benny Golcha explained.
Although still primarily offering traditional designs, the hand-knotted specialist began producing contemporary lines about eight to 10 months ago. Among the new modern offerings on display at AmericasMart were the Chobi collection's Eye Behind the Tree rug pictured below, with a suggested retail of $42 per square foot.
Made in Pakistan, the Eye Behind the Tree design from Oriental Designer Rugs' Chobi collection is hand knotted of 100 percent wool at 100 knots per square inch.
Another attention-grabber exemplifying Oriental Designer Rugs' foray into contemporary designs was the Nebula rug from the Galaxy collection (shown below). Crafted of 80 percent wool and 20 percent bamboo, the range is offered in 8x10 to 10x14 and custom sizes. Suggested retail is $3,200 for the 8x10 size.
From left to right, Kevin Malkiewicz of AmericasMart, Vineet Golchha, Renu Giri, Benny and Pushpa Golchha, all of Oriental Designer Rugs at the ribbon cutting for the rug company's showroom at the July 2016 Atlanta International Rug Market. Behind them is the Nebula rug from the Galaxy collection.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
With three generations in the rug industry, the Golchha family started as a manufacturer of handmade rugs in India in 1973 and exported them worldwide. Bhanwar (Benny) Golchha joined the family business after completing his U.S. Master's Degree in Textile Engineering in 1969. Oriental Designer Rugs was established in the rug importer-wholesaler district of mid-town Manhattan in New York City in 1984. Since the Southeast was growing fast and Atlanta was the fastest growing city, the company moved to Atlanta in 1994. Ms. Renu Giri joined Oriental Designer Rugs in New York in 1990 and Vineet (Benny's son) joined in 1998.