Retail Review:
DO WE FIND WORLD-CLASS RUG STORES IN THE CARPET CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? NAH.

 

Dalton Floor Covering Stores Dalton, Georgia *  *  * (cumulative rating)	The rugnews.com rating system: ***** World Class ****   Very good ***     Mediocre **       Poor *         Awful (none)    Worse than awful
For individual store ratings,  see below

By The Observer

DALTON, GA -- This city lives up to its reputation as the floor covering capital of the world, and its retail stores do a good job of offering something for everyone.

One of the interesting points about Dalton retailing is that  each  store markets itself uniquely, creating a varied and well-differentiated marketplace for floor coverings. We decided to visit three different stores and explore how they present rugs.

Beckler's, Carpets of Dalton and Taj Mahal are all located at exit  328 on  I-75 in the hills of north Georgia, 90 miles north of Atlanta. They are part of  a cluster of about 25 retail "outlets" located on a one-mile stretch of service road alongside the highway.

BECKLER'S HERITAGE  RUG GALLERY *  *  *      Mediocre

The rugnews.com rating system: ***** World Class ****   Very good * * *     Mediocre **       Poor *         Awful (none)    Worse than awful

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THE REPORT CARD BECKLER'S Subject Grade design and color selection    * * * * Presented most current trends   range of prices  *  *  *  * Good, better, best selection was definitely there.   construction selection   *  *  *  We were pleasantly surprised to see some Iranian handknotted rugs.     sales help:  product knowledge * * * * Seasoned professionals with thorough product knowledge.   sales help: design and color knowledge *  *  * None of the three sales people approached with a design or color question     product presentation :  *  *   No frills. Warehouse style,brightly lit and clean.   Enjoyment level *   *   * Fun, but the earth didn't move.

Beckler's has been in business since 1949. It carries carpet, wood, vinyl, ceramic, laminate. Rugs are carried in an area called the Heritage Rug Gallery.

Beckler's Heritage Rug Gallery Showroom

The store is part warehouse, part flooring store and part rug showroom. The  parts flow quite well, despite the fact that you wouldn't expect those three types of stores to function under one roof.

The warehouse  is for rolled carpet except for several rugs hung on a couple  walls that appear to be management's idea of a decorative touch.

It is neat, clean, brightly lit and well organized. It's also not air-conditioned. (Guess they feel customers are willing to sweat a little to get a good deal.)

Beckler's cavernous warehouse showroom. Not a breath  of air conditioning disturbed the pristine beauty of the setting.

To call the  Heritage Rug Gallery  either "Heritage" or "Gallery"  is wishful thinking. It's mostly a typical rack- and-stack operation in a warehouse setting. The merchandise is a varied mix of handmade and machine made products.

Beckler's acquired Dalyn's retail store a few years ago and folded that merchandise into the newly remodeled Beckler store. 

We enjoyed the interesting assortment of Iranian rugs in bright colors and unusual sizes. In this type of store, the Observer was not surprised to find that not every construction, price point and style was represented. However there was enough assortment to make a lot of people happy.

The entire store has a casual and friendly atmosphere. It is neat, clean and well lit throughout. The sales staff was helpful, welcoming and knowledgeable. The salespeople were obviously experienced and knew the product inside and out. In fact, Observer has been in a lot  of fancier "uptown"  stores around the country which have not had sales staff this good.

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CARPETS OF DALTON Dalton, GA	The rugnews.com rating system: ***** World Class ****   Very good ***     Mediocre **       Poor *         Awful (none)    Worse than awful
*  *      Poor

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THE REPORT CARD CARPETS OF DALTON Subject Grade design and color selection  * *  Department was one big blur. Not organized by style. Lighting so bad, you couldn't see the colors.     range of prices  *  *  *  Normal meat and potatoes range.     construction selection   *  *  *   Hits the major products     sales help:  product knowledge (no stars)  who knows? didn't see a single sales person during our visit.   sales help: design and color knowledge (no stars) Who knows?   product presentation :  *  Gallery presentation confusing. Poor lighting, dead zones between racks.   Enjoyment level (No stars) Couldn't wait to get out of there.

American Home Showplace/Carpets of Dalton  is in the same town, but not on the same planet as Beckler's.

The store showcases every category of home furnishings. It carries all types of floor coverings as well as furniture, decorative accessories, kitchen and bath cabinets, home entertainment and lighting. Each product has its own department and the store is spread out over an area as large as three football fields.

There is also an innovative new outdoor furniture store and a low-cost furniture outlet center on the American Home Showplace campus. The theory  is to never let the consumer escape.

Vendor galleries at Carpets of Dalton  have the look of corporate showrooms

With all the innovation in home furnishings merchandising, you'd think this place would do a better job with rugs.

The Observer's first impression of the rug department at Carpets of Dalton was "corporate showroom.€VbCrLf The first thing one notices are the dedicated galleries for many of the industry's largest manufacturers and importers. There are separate areas for Karastan, Couristan, Nourison, Design Rhythms by Liora Manne and Capel. Each gallery is comprised of a rack or two and in some cases, a stack or two as well. These spaces encircle the rug floor while the generic racks are in the center of the circle.

Dim lighting at Carpets of Dalton makes the  generic racks look dull and spooky.

The gallery spaces are better lit than the racks in the middle. In fact, the lighting in general is spotty and shadowy. There isn't enough of it, and what is there is not properly directed onto the racks. It was so dim, The Observer couldn't even tell the difference between mauve and puce.

On the day we visited, the stacks were messy. Someone had been flipping through them, but they were never put  back in order.

The racks were merchandised inconsistently. If there was a logic to this, please let me know. There seemed to be separate racks for 6x9 and 9x12 rugs. Some of the racks had mostly machine made goods and some had mostly hand made goods. But if there was a  logic to this, it eluded us completely.

At the front of the rug department, there was a small dirty white platform where accent rugs were stacked.

Truthfully, The Observer was not motivated to examine the assortment because the department was so uninviting.

 We know that the "Gallery Approach" is supposed to be a meaningful way to merchandise brand names. But frankly, it turned us off.  It's  not a consumer-friendly way to shop. Sure, every manufacturer and importer wants to brand itself, but there is little  value in  this approach from the consumer's point of view.  It's actually irritating.

The Observer could care less if a rug is designed by The Olsen Twins or imported by Capel. What is important is design, color and price and floors that are merchandised so they can find what they're looking for. To go through five different spaces to find a red sarouk at the right price is more effort than most consumers are willing to expend.

Perhaps we could have had a better idea of where to find what we were looking for if there had been a sales person on the floor.

In the half hour we were in the store, we did not see a single salesperson. Let's hope they were in a sales training meeting.

It spooked us so bad, we had to get outta there.

N-E-E-E-E-E-X-X-X-X-X-X-T-T-T-T-T!

TAJ MAHAL ORIENTAL RUGS Dalton, GA	The rugnews.com rating system: ***** World Class * * * *   Very good ***     Mediocre **       Poor *         Awful (none)    Worse than awful
* * * * Very Good

 

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THE REPORT CARD TAJ MAHAL Subject Grade design and color selection  * * * * Colorful bazaar approach draws you into the buying experience     range of prices  *  *  *  * From Wal-Mart to Bloomingdale's   construction selection   *  *  *  * From the humble rag rug to  super Indian handknots,only thing lacking was very high end constructions.     sales help:  product knowledge * * * Sales people approached, but then left us alone to browse.     sales help: design and color knowledge *  * Sales help did not actively sell on the basis of color and design.   product presentation :  *  *  * Casual and engaging   Enjoyment level *  *   *  * Some people might like a fancier setting, but Observer thought this was fun!

With a name like Taj Mahal Oriental Rugs, we expected to find maybe hand-made Indian rugs. (the Taj Mahal is in India, right?) Our hopes were dashed the minute we entered the store and were confronted with that giant, cardboard cut out of our favorite androids, The  Olsen Twins. So much for Oriental rugs being the focus.

Inside  things got much  better.

Taj Mahal has a true outlet store feeling. Not to be confused with its namesake in Agra, India.

This is a true outlet store. Bare bones, no frills. Bare linoleum floors, racks and stacks, but a great assortment and brightly lit and clean. Every construction, style, size and type of rug was there, including scatters, mats, accents, runners and roll runners. There were hand-made, machine-made, tufted, hooked, braids, rags, etc. Who knew who made them?

I like the democratic way everything was displayed. The focus was not on licenses or brand names. (Despite the spooky greeting from The Olsens).

This is what an outlet store should be. Good prices, actually below retail! Imagine that.

All types of rugs are displayed at Taj Majal, from scatters to runners to room size rugs.